"Let's expand the team , so we can provide more access" Dr. Beatrice Gandara on how dental therapists can help communities get the care they need

Last Wednesday, October 20, the Dental Therapy Task Force convened for their penultimate meeting before finalizing proposals to present to the legislature. During the meeting, Dr. Beatrice Gandara, Clinical Associate Professor, Oral Medicine at University of Washington, and Task Force Member representing UW School of Dentistry, shared her experience working with patients who do not have access to dental care:

“I am working out there with our dental students and faculty with people who don’t have oral health care access at any  level and it’s really astonishing. Especially when we know how much oral health impacts systemic health – such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental health. Every person I see who has caries in their front teeth, or is missing their front teeth, they can’t get jobs. It has impact at so many levels, it’s so important.”

Dr. Gandara’s real-world experience informs her opinions on the importance of expanding the practice of dental therapy in Washington state. She knows that if the state's provider shortage continues, practitioners will never be able to deliver care to all those in need. Opponents of dental therapy focus on increasing Medicaid dental reimbursements for both adults and children as the only solution. The Washington Dental Access Campaign and Dr. Gandara are also supportive of investing in the state’s dental Medicaid program, however, on its own this would not address the oral health care crisis we are currently facing:

“Higher Medicaid reimbursement for dentists is part of it, but we also need to rethink the team. We need dental health aide therapists as well as more expanded function dental assistants,  community health workers and navigators. Let’s expand the team so we can provide more access.”

Increasing reimbursement rates does not automatically make it easier for all communities to find dental care near their homes. In all but one of Washington’s 39 counties, there are too few dental professionals to meet demand. Adding dental therapists to the dental care team not only increases the number of oral health providers, but these providers are actually able to do more community outreach and bring care to underserved communities in non-traditional settings like preschools, nursing homes, and doctor’s offices.

Furthermore, dental therapy offers a new pathway into the oral health profession for those who are currently underrepresented within it. As Dr. Gandara points out:

“Right now, we don’t have enough providers who are from underserved communities, who have a chance to rise up the ladder because perhaps they started as an assistant and went on to become a dental health aide therapist and eventually become dentists.”

Many dental therapists currently working across the nation and on Washington’s Tribal lands practice in the communities in which they were raised. They not only build and maintain relationships with the patients they serve, but they demonstrate to the next generation that a career in oral health care is possible.

The final meeting of the Dental Therapy Task Force takes place on November 9. If you, like Dr. Gandara, believe that dental therapists should be able to bring care to communities across Washington state, please contact your legislators now!

The views expressed by Dr. Beatrice Gandara are her own and do not represent any official position or policy of University of Washington.