The Arctic Sounder (Alaska): Dental Health Aids Make Impact Around State

Posted: July 12, 2011
The Arctic Sounder (Alaska): Dental Health Aids Make Impact Around State
 
It's been less than 10 years since Alaska's dental health aide initiative was launched to train and place dental health aide therapists (DHAT) in rural Alaska, and three years since the program graduated its first students. It was an innovative project, the nation's first attempt at developing a dental therapist program of this kind. According to a recent study conducted by Research Triangle Institute, Alaska's dental therapists are now providing safe, competent and appropriate care in their scope of practice.
Nearly two dozen DHATs are currently working around Alaska. They impact 35,000 people in rural Alaska who now have access to a dedicated oral health provider. That's critical care for Alaska Natives, who have long struggled with dental disease; in fact, Alaska Native children still have more than two times the national rate of tooth decay. Communities that once relied on itinerant dental care or had none at all now receive routine restorative and preventive services by local providers.

http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/1128dental_health_aides_make_impact_around_state
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