Minnesota's success, fact sheet, legislative testimony
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** Dental therapists making a difference in Minnesota, a decade of data shows
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** Dentists see that adding the mid-level providers eases the care shortage, expands access and creates efficiencies
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By KEVYN BURGER | March 17, 2021
A dentist who owns two growing practices in adjacent rural counties in south-central Minnesota, Shawn Knorr is busy, and he prefers it that way.
“I like the work, and I like to work hard,” he says. “We have a productive office.”
Some of Knorr’s patients drive up to an hour to see him for their crowns, root canals, implants or oral surgery. Those who need preventative exams and restorations — the technical term for fillings — often will open wide for his dental therapist, Brie Borntrager, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate.
Read the full article here ([link removed]) .
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** Dental Therapy Fact Sheet
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Wisconsin has a dental access problem, particularly for children on Medicaid, rural residents, people with disabilities and lower-income populations. Twenty percent of the state’s residents — more than 1.2 million people — live in an area that has a shortage of dental health professionals. Only 40% of children on Medicaid received preventative dental services in 2019, and only one-third of Wisconsin dentists accept Medicaid patients at all.
Thankfully, there is a solution. Allowing for dental therapists — mid-level providers similar to physician assistants or nurse practitioners — would go a long way toward addressing Wisconsin’s dental provider shortage without burdening taxpayers.
Read the full fact sheet here ([link removed]) .
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** Dental Therapy Testimony
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Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace today testified before a State Senate committee in favor of SB 181, a bill that would allow dental therapy to be practiced in Wisconsin.
"Wisconsin has a dental access problem, particularly for vulnerable populations like those with low-income, the disabled, rural populations and children on Medicaid. Twenty percent of the state’s residents – more than 1.2 million people – live in a dental health professional shortage area. Only 40% of children on Medicaid received preventative dental services in 2019, and only one-third of Wisconsin dentists accept Medicaid patients at all.
"Fifty-seven percent of kids on Medicaid in Wisconsin – more than 300,000 children and adolescents – did not receive any dental care in 2019."
Read the transcript of her full testimony here ([link removed]) .
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