Purpose: Using John Kingdon's agenda-setting model, this paper explores how Minnesota
came to legislate a mid-level dental practitioner to its oral health workforce. Using a pluralist …

Aims Increased awareness of oral health disparities in the United States has highlighted the
need to expand the workforce and access to both primary and preventive dental care …

Objectives. We identified Minnesota's initial dental therapy employers and surveyed dental
safety net providers' perceptions of dental therapy. Methods. In July 2011, we surveyed 32 …

In late 2006, the Minnesota Dental Association was made aware of an initiative by a small,
wellorganized group of “safety net”(community clinics) and dental hygiene advocates …

Collaborative leadership and stakeholder engagement have created the concept of dental
therapist intraprofessional dental team members who are expanding and extending the …

Background Expansion of the dental team may play a role in increasing access to oral
health care. In 2009, Minnesota became the first state to formally license dental therapists …

Dental healthcare is provided to Alaska Natives and all other Native Americans by the
United States government as part of its unique legal and political relationship with the tribes …

Nationally, stakeholders have been looking for new strategies to achieve the triple aim
(improving the health of populations, improving patient experiences, and reducing the cost …

Given the large degree of control that the profession of dentistry has over its education,
licensure, and practice, it is easy to overlook the fact that state policymakers have the …

Since 1923, more than fifty countries have improved access to dental care by allowing
midlevel providers—frequently called dental therapists—to offer preventive and restorative …