Dental School Faculty Attitudes Toward Dental Therapy: A Four‐Year Follow‐Up

Abstract

This study is a follow-up to a 2010 study at one U.S. dental school that found faculty attitudes toward the dental therapy model were mixed and there was a clear divide in attitudes between faculty members who were full-time educators and part-timers who also practiced outside the educational institution. The aim of this study was to determine faculty attitudes toward and perceptions of the dental therapy model at the same school four years after implementation of the dental therapy program. The identical questionnaire used in 2010 was used in this survey conducted from November 2013 to January 2014. All 254 full-time and part-time faculty members were invited to participate; responses were received from 75 faculty members, for a 30% response rate. Four years after the initial survey, the respondents showed greater acceptance of dental therapists and of dental therapy as a mechanism for addressing access to care problems. A majority of the respondents reported feeling a personal responsibility to ensuring the dental therapy model succeeded (52%); indicated being comfortable having a dental therapist provide care for their patients (60%); and agreed that the ability to delegate work to a dental therapist would make a dentist's job more satisfying (54%). Faculty members who also worked in a private practice viewed the role of dental therapists in private practice more favorably in 2014 than in 2010. This study provides insight into how attitudes of educators toward a new profession evolve over time. The faculty appeared to be undergoing a reorientation on the topic of dental therapy. This transition in point of view may have been facilitated by factors such as continued exposure to the new professionals, information sharing, and time.

Dental Therapists in the United States

“…The Oregon pilot projects are under evaluation, and preliminary results in both Oregon and Washington, as reported by stakeholders, have also been positive. In Minnesota, the evidence of patient and provider acceptability, education quality, practice capacity, economic benefit, and health improvements is also robust 18,51,58–64. Dental safety net facilities have been great supporters and early employers of DTs in Minnesota.…”

“…In Minnesota, the evidence of patient and provider acceptability, education quality, practice capacity, economic benefit, and health improvements is also robust. 18,51,[58][59][60][61][62][63][64] Dental safety net facilities have been great supporters and early employers of DTs in Minnesota. A survey of 32 safety net providers reported that clinical directors overwhelmingly (77%) supported the dental therapy provider model.…”

Dental therapy in the United States: Are developments at the state level a reason for optimism or a cause for concern?

“…Increasing the number of dentists who see financial and clinical advantages from employing DTs may make organized dentistry, a traditional opponent of dental therapy, into an unexpected advocate. Dentists who work with or train alongside DTs report more favorable attitudes toward these providers, 35 a pattern paralleled by changing physician attitudes towards advanced practice providers in medicine 36 . With continued expansion, the vocal opposition of organized dentistry may fade.…”

Dental Therapists as New Oral Health Practitioners: Increasing Access for Underserved Populations

“…Ideally, in 20 years these new dental providers will be as common and as accepted in both medicine and dentistry as other primary care providers are in medicine. It is encouraging that a study by Self et al found that, after four years of experience with the dental therapy program at the University of Minnesota, dental faculty members demonstrated greater acceptance of dental therapists and viewed the role of dental therapy more favorably than when the program was first introduced 30 …”