The COVID-19 pandemic upended the healthcare system and prompted the use of telehealth by providers in medicine, behavioral health, and oral health. Dental providers are particularly susceptible due to the aerosols generated during dental procedures that could facilitate COVID-19 transmission. This high risk resulted in the suspension of many routine dental procedures in the early…
Assessing the distribution and organization of the dental workforce is critical to understand how to address poor access to dental care for lower income families. The US currenly lacks a significant supply of dentists who accept Medicaid, or will work in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which impacts communities of color and disabled individuals. There…
Post graduate dental (PGD) training has increased 27% over the last decade (2009-2019). More than 75% of this increase was due to the growth of primary care training. Despite this increase, little is known about factors associated with the pursuit of PGD training and whether or not they vary between different dental specialty fields. There…
Dental therapy is a workforce model that introduces mid-level practitioners—dental therapists—with both preventive and restorative skills. The introduction of dental therapists appears to improve access to and equity in dental service delivery in the US. The Oral Health Workforce Research Center conducted a study that evaluated the satisfaction of clinical providers, organizational administrators, and patients…
Studies estimate that approximately one-third of all opioid prescriptions (Rxs) from dentists are associated with nonsurgical dental procedures, which suggests unwarranted opioid use. This article discusses a study of adult Medicaid beneficiaries using administrative claims data from New York (NY) and Oregon (OR) (2014-2016) to examine opioid Rxs associated with nonsurgical dental visits.
Many post-baccalaureate programs provide a way for underrepresented and disadvantaged students to improve their applications for medical education programs after graduating from college. These programs have changed significantly over the years and more research is needed to understand this evolution. This report describes a study that examined information about post-baccalaureate programs for dental schools and…
With the graduation of more females from dental school, the dental profession is becoming more gender diverse. This study, conducted by the Oral Health Workforce Research Center (OHWRC), builds on previous work on gender diversity in dentistry. Researchers used data from the 2014-2018 American Community Survey (ACS) to evaluate the impact of dentists’ personal characteristics…
Dental therapists (DTs) are primary care dental providers, used globally, and were introduced in the United States (US) in 2005. DTs have now been adopted in 13 states and several Tribal nations. This article qualitatively examines the drivers and outcomes of the US dental therapy movement through a health equity lens, including community engagement, implementation…
Since the 1950’s, health organizations and policymakers have depended on dental public health (DPH) professionals to design and execute local and national oral health strategic plans, and implement community based programs to overcome barriers and disparities. In the US, DPH specialty programs are used to train DPH professionals to increase the available workforce and improve…
Dentists are 1 of the top 5 opioid analgesic prescribers among health care professionals in the US. However, most of these prescriptions remain unused after dental surgery, with upwards of 100 million opioid analgesic pills estimated to be left unused. This report describes dentists’ opioid prescribing patterns for Medicaid beneficiaries in 2 very different states—Oregon…
