Viewpoint

Dental Therapy: A cure for Wisconsin’s oral care woes

By Mike Nichols

Sometimes it takes decades for common sense to prevail in Madison.

This time, when it comes to the aching need for dental therapists in the Badger State, it looks like it might take only eight years.

It’s common knowledge by now that Wisconsin has way too many poor kids with terrible dental care and not enough dentists to treat them. Half of Wisconsin’s 72 counties don’t have a single licensed dentist, according to the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association; less than 40 percent of children covered by Medicaid received any dental care last year.

Just this week, the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-term Care held a public hearing on a bill introduced by two Republicans, Sen. Mary Felzkowski of Tomahawk and Rep. Jon Plumer of Lodi, to license dental therapists — trained professionals who could do a lot more than dental hygienists but less than dentists. They could provide basic exams, fill cavities, pull some teeth.

Felzkowski pushed this for years and whittled away the opposition from dentists, who are now neutral. If it makes it through both the Assembly and the Senate and is signed by the governor, she deserves much of the credit.

Policy Brief

Marijuana legalization and the impact on public safety

Capitol Recap

Assembly Bill 541: Telehealth moves forward

The Wisconsin Assembly this week approved a bill that advances a reform the Badger Institute long as recommended by clearing away licensing barriers to telehealth in mental health care.

The bill, AB541, now advances to the state Senate. It allows mental health care providers properly licensed in their home states to provide care to Wisconsinites remotely. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Nate Gustafson (R-Neenah), passed by voice vote.

Clearing regulatory barriers to telehealth — which expands health care options for patients and could lower costs — was recommendation of Daniel Sem and Scott Niederjohn in “Common-sense Healthcare Reforms for Wisconsin,” part of the Badger Institute’s “Mandate for Madison” in 2022.

The idea of using technology to give patients access to more providers isn’t new, but it gained new momentum during the pandemic. Scholar Julie Grace reviewed the results for the Badger Institute in late 2020, and the institute began recommending that the enabling changes be made permanent.

By the Numbers

SNAP: Wisconsin FoodShare benefits

By Patrick McIlheran & Will Rosignal

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — colloquially known as “food stamps” and, in Wisconsin, also called FoodShare — has grown over time both in the number of people receiving benefits and in the percentage of households doing so.

The underlying numbers

The number of Wisconsin households receiving food benefits via the program now called FoodShare rose from an annual average of 119,455 in 2003 to 370,431 in 2023 — peaking in 2014 at 420,833.

Recent Badger Institute work on the SNAP program includes…

• A viewpoint from President Mike Nichols about what can be bought with SNAP benefits.

• A policy brief about the length of the pandemic-era plus-up of eligibility for SNAP benefits.

• Testimony to the Legislature by Badger Institute Visiting Fellow Angela Rachidi on the link between workforce participation and SNAP benefits.

Weekly Survey: Should Wisconsin license dental therapists to provide oral care for underserved communities across the state?

Previous Poll Results:

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