Dental News - Final comments submitted on proposed standards for dental therapy education

Dental Tribune USA

Tue. 3 March 2015

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NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: The American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) recently submitted its comments to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) regarding the proposed accreditation standards for dental therapy education programs. After asking communities of interest to provide comments, CODA received responses from a variety of stakeholders.

Those stakeholders include the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), whose comments to CODA paralleled many of the same points that were included in ADHA’s remarks, and in which the FTC urged CODA to expeditiously adopt accreditation standards for dental therapy education programs.

ADHA comments noted, “CODA's mission is to serve the oral health care needs of the public through the development and administration of standards that foster continuous quality improvement of dental and dental-related educational programs.”

ADHA President Kelli Swanson Jaecks, MA, RDH, said: ”The ADHA is focused on improving the public’s access to quality oral health care, which is an essential part of overall health. The comments we provided to CODA highlight the focus and commitment our organization has on improving access to care through the process of an accredited education program for dental therapists.”

The FTC has commented to CODA before on the need to revise the standards that were first proposed in 2013, and ADHA has expressed support for the FTC efforts to help ensure better access to care and enable dental therapists to operate to the full scope of their practice.

FTC: Time to enhance competition

ADHA Executive Director Ann Battrell, MSDH, said: “We were very pleased to see the FTC weigh in once again on the proposed dental therapy education standards. Chairwoman Edith Ramirez has been steadfast in her continuing effort to promote competition in the oral health care industry for the benefit of the public.” Battrell also noted that the FTC’s comments referenced that timely adoption of standards has the potential to enhance competition by supporting state legislative initiatives to create dental therapists, and that national standards will help facilitate the mobility of dental therapists from state to state to meet consumer demand for services.

The FTC's comments noted that competition provides opportunities for the public to receive greater access to needed oral health care and opens doors for professional advancement to those practicing dental hygiene.

In addition to any remarks supplied to CODA during the comment period, commissioners were able to hear comments directly from ADHA members this summer at an open hearing at ADHA’s annual session in Las Vegas; and ADHA President Swanson Jaecks, among others, addressed CODA at the American Dental Association’s hearing on the standards, held in conjunction with the ADA’s annual meeting in San Antonio in October.

CODA is scheduled to meet on Feb. 6 in Chicago, where it is expected the commission will have further deliberations on the proposed standards for dental therapy education programs.

The American Dental Hygienists’ Association is the largest national organization representing the professional interests of more than 185,000 dental hygienists across the country.

For more information about the ADHA, dental hygiene or the link between oral health and general health, you can visit the ADHA at www.adha.org.

(Source: ADHA)

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