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Dental Therapy News Update:
House Health Policy Committee Next Week
Thank you for your continued support of SB 541 and for your advocacy around bringing dental therapists to Michigan. Many of you responded to our call to action in our summer update and contacted members of the House Health Policy Committee to voice your support for the bill.
SB 541 is scheduled for a hearing next Wednesday, October 3, and we need committee members to hear as many voices in support of licensing dental therapists as possible before then.
Share your experiences with access to care challenges with committee members and why adding dental therapists to our clinics and practices in Michigan will help.
We've linked committee members' e-mail addresses below, but you can find additional contact information on the House Health Policy Committee home page
here
:
The Michigan Dental Association (MDA) is continuing to spread misinformation about both the bill and dental therapy, as detailed in a new packet that they've distributed to their members, which you can view here.
The majority of the MDA's talking points are either inaccurate, false or easily refuted.
Our key talking points are available here, and there are a wealth of resources on our
midentalaccess.org
website, including a variety of easy to use infographics, that provide accurate information.
One argument against SB 541 that MDA uses is the claim that dental therapists are not increasing access to care in Minnesota, which authorized dental therapists in 2009. T
he Minnesota Department of Health prepared this
issue brief to provide
FACTUAL information
about dental therapy and how it is working in Minnesota.
Please share this information and emphasize that it represents the most recent and unbiased information about Minnesota.
Key facts: in Minnesota dental therapists are geographically distributed in proportion to the state's population.
-
55%
of the state's population lives in the seven-county Greater Twin Cities metro area, where
59%
of working dental therapists are employed.
-
45%
of Minnesotans live outside the Metro area, where
41%
of working dental therapists are employed.
- In 2017
, 93%
of licensed dental therapists reported being employed as compared to
74%
in 2014. This increase indicates greater integration of these providers in Minnesota. The need and market is there and working.
Remember, if you only get a few minutes with a legislator, stick to our key points:
- THIS BILL IS A SAFE, EFFECTIVE MODEL OF CARE.
- THIS BILL does NOT mandate any dentist to hire or supervise a dental therapist; no school is required to start an educational program.
- IT IS A FREE MARKET TOOL TO AN ACCESS OF CARE CHALLENGE.
- IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO WITHHOLD TOOLS FROM PROVIDERS WILLING TO TREAT THE UNDERSERVED.
Some additional resources to share:
"I'm disabled, and it took me 15 years to find a dentist in Michigan"
Last week Bridge magazine ran an opinion piece by Paul Palmer, chairman of the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council, that discusses his difficulties in finding a dentist and how SB 541 could help others in his situation.
Even in areas of the state where many private practice dentists operate, many people cannot get access to dental care because they are uninsured or dentists do not accept public insurance.
Our updated infographic examining how few dentists accept Medicaid is available
here
.
New Online Resource for Dental Therapy Launched
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation released a new
online resource center on dental therapy to serve as an educational hub for consumer health advocates, policymakers and individuals to learn about dental therapy and how it is changing the lives of children, their families and their communities.
This new website offers an extensive library of articles, documents, infographics, interactive tools, interviews, podcasts, social media as sets and videos from organizations and experts across the country that showcase the opportunities and benefits of dental therapists to improving oral health. Find the dental therapy resource center
here.
Thank you for all of your efforts in support of this bill, and your engagement as we continue moving forward on this issue. Our coalition is strong in our commitment to increasing access to oral health care for ALL Michigan residents.
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