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Advanced Dental Hygiene practitioners (ADHP) could provide solutions to the current oral health crisis in the United States as they possess the ability to increase accessibility to needy patients. The paper shall look at the problem of accessibility to oral care in the country and the possibility of the introduction of a mid-level provider as a possible solution to this problem shall be addressed.
Statistics indicate that there are several vulnerable groups (children and the elderly) who cannot access dental health. In fact, this is largely the reason why children are continually susceptible to tooth decay. The latter has been listed as one of the most common chronic illnesses among them. Besides this, several types of research indicate that there is a gap in the dental health sector since it loses close to two thousand dentists every year through retirement. Consequently, oral health care stakeholders need to think of methods that can increase oral health care accessibility while at the same time making use of current dental health providers. An effective way of doing this is through the introduction of a mid-level oral health provider such as the Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner. (ADHP)
The latter practitioners are comprised of Masters’s Degree holders who can be equated to nursing practitioners. (American Dental Hygienists Association, 2009b)They bridge the gap between preventive oral health care as well as dentistry and they also exist in other countries of the world such as Australia, the UK, New Zealand and many others. If such systems have worked in the latter countries, then there is a possibility that America can borrow the method as well. Given the current lack of dentists in many rural communities, ADHPs have the capacity to deal with oral health challenges in both preventions as well as restoration. The latter professionals have the capacity to heighten the numbers of patients receiving oral health care at any time.
ADHPs’ main role will be to provide preventive dental healthcare hygiene services. They will be expected to promote health as well as carry out dental assurance. In other words, primary oral health care will be their main healthcare forte. However, it should be noted that the latter group cannot be expected to do all oral health work. In other words, there will be limits to what they can offer oral health care patients. For instance, they will not be expected to carry out invasive restorative services. Also, prescription abilities will be limited among these professionals. However, the latter persons possess the ability to bring health care to clinics, health care facilities or to public institutions as well. In this regard, they will get in contact with a diverse array of patients and may eventually deal with the prevailing oral health crisis. (American Dental Hygienists Association, 2009a)
Before the ADHP vision can be made a reality, there is a need to look into the history of this profession and then understand what needs to be done in the future in order to make it workable. In 2003, the American Dental Hygienists Association was alarmed by the increasing number of people who could not access oral health care because of insufficiencies in the system as well as a lack of finances to fund this healthcare service. Consequently, the board resolved that there was a need to come up with a report for tackling this challenge. In the subsequent year, this very group suggested the development of a mid-level service provider. In order to facilitate the creation of this group, the association formed a group of ten dental educators whose sole mission was to look into the possibility of adopting a mid-level practitioner in the oral health sector. The latter committee created a document that was then presented to the dentists association in several forums. During such forums, other members of the association would provide suggestions for improvement amongst them so as to ensure that the process was a transparent one.
In the latter document, the following issues were addressed
- Possible educational requirements and curriculum expectations for ADHPs and other qualifications
- Introduction to mid-level service providers
- Justifications for ADHP relevance
- Problems with oral health care within the United States
In doing this, this group has been able to outline some of the requirements needed in order to make the ADHP a reality in oral healthcare.
However, despite the latter developments, there is still a lot of work that is yet to be done. First of all, legislations need to be put in place in order to make this profession legitimate. Under the US federal system, several states will have to decide on the latter matter. Also, health insurance policies need to be streamlined so as to incorporate this mid-level dental practitioner in the sector. Such an ambitious healthcare model would require pilot testing in a small section of the population. Problems can then be identified and rectified before full-scale national adoption of the matter can be done by various groups. However, for such tests to be carried out, significant funding will be required. (Nathe, 2008)
In conclusion, the dental community is in dire need of reform owing to problems with accessibility among the citizenry. ADHPs can provide the solution to this problem by offering preventive as well as minor prescriptive and restorative services. However, for this to occur states have to pass such legislation and funding also needs to be done for pilot testing.
References
Nathe, C. (2008). Evolution of the ADHP. Web.
American Dental Hygienists Association. (2009a). The Advanced Dental hygiene practitioner and access to oral health care. Web.
American Dental Hygienists Association. (2009b). A History of Introducing A New Provider in Minnesota. Web.
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