Tampa Bay lawmakers proposed amendments to help Florida’s dental crisis face opposition

Tampa – Florida is the last in the country ranked in terms of the percentage of children who have seen dentists in the past year. Of the 67 counties, 65 have areas designated as dental deserts, with too few dentists to meet the demand.

Even if patients are out of reach of the dental clinic, many are unable to receive treatment as about eight out of ten Florida dentists refuse to accept Medicaid patients.

As a result, in 2021, Florida Hospital charged almost $550 million for treatment of preventable dental issues, such as dental infections.

It is a crisis to say that a group of healthcare advocates and some state legislators can at least partially resolve it through the establishment of dental therapist certification.

The law submitted for future legislative meetings by Tampa Bay lawmakers creates certifications that can be won in about three years, compared to the eight years of research required to qualify as a dentist. Therapists can only do basic dental research such as cavities and basic tooth extraction.

But as in the past few years, supporters of the bill have become brave for the fierce battle with the Florida Dental Association, with both sides denounced disinformation and terror tactics on the other.

“We’re going to win this,” said Roy Miller, president of Tallahassee’s Children’s Campaign, one of the groups that support the bill. “We have finally got the leadership and the Florida Congress to get it.”

We created certification by matching invoices. Sen. Jay Collins, Tampa and state legislator Linda Cheney, R-St. Pete Beach. Cheney said the number of dental staff in Florida has not kept up to the number of patient visits that rose 10% in the four years leading up to 2022.

Her bill passed 14-1 in the House Health Jobs and Program Subcommittee on Tuesday, “enhancing access to high quality care for Floridians,” Cheney said in an email.

Frank, a former dean of the University of Florida School of Dentist and founding member of the Floridian, has been licensed as a dental therapist to treat patients alongside dozens of developed countries. Katalanot said.

In a recent workshop on issues held in Tampa, he pointed to the success of Minnesota’s dental therapy program. The state first offered certification in 2009, with around 140 licensed dental therapists practicing last year.

In Florida, therapists can work in emergency rooms, hospitals, health centers and nursing homes, Catalonit said. They are usually employed in dental practice, handling regular dental work and freeing dentists for more complicated procedures.

They take the same exam as dentists, but only in the procedures where practice is permitted.

“Dental therapy is a proven solution to increase access,” he said.

That’s not the view of the state dental association, a group that lobbies on behalf of dentists. Over the past eight years, he opposed dental therapy methods, citing concerns at the level of concern that therapist level will be provided and costs to taxpayers starting certification programs.

If the bill becomes law, dentistry could be practiced by high school graduates in just three years of training, said Joe Anne Hart, the association’s top MP.

It includes a single tooth extraction, a procedure she described as “irreversible surgery.”

The procedure can lead to complications like infections and broken teeth,” she said. These may be more likely when dental therapists work in underserved areas with low-income populations.

“One concern is that the population they treat is likely the most medically constructed individual,” she said.

The association also highlights states such as Vermont, which approved the law in 2016, establishing accreditation programs at Vermont Technical Colleges. A 2023 survey by state auditors found that despite the university spending $2.6 million in taxes, the university established a program and failed to enroll one student.

“Our concern is how much taxpayer dollars will be needed to implement this and how long it will take,” Hart said.

On behalf of dental therapists, the association supports expanding its Dental Live Loan Repayment Program. This allows newly certified graduates to pay $50,000 a year for up to five years from their student loan debt if they accept a job treating Medicaid patients.

According to the Education Data Initiative, the average student loan debt for dental schools is $280,000. In 2023, state lawmakers approved the program’s regular $2 million annual funding.

The association also encourages free treatment to underserved communities through the mission of the Florida Mercy Program. More than 2,000 dentists are volunteering to offer free treatment at a two-day event planned in March in Daytona Beach. A similar event took place in Lakeland in June.

Catalonot said the association’s proposal is a short-term, fragmentary solution that does not resolve the state’s dental crisis.

Newly certified dentists dealing with large student debt will not stay in their loan repayment programs for a long time due to low Medicaid reimbursement rates in Florida, he said. In 2020, Florida’s Child Dental Services rate was 42.6% of average private insurance reimbursed, according to the American Dental Association.

He also denies the association’s concern that dental therapists mean poor people who receive lower standard of care.

“We already have a two-tier system in Florida and in the country, people who can care for it, people who can’t,” he said. “This is just a false story.”