Dental therapist

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Ø Dental therapists

Dental therapy evolved in New Zealand and has spread to many other countries around the world. In 1921, New Zealand developed a two academic year program to train high school graduates to become dental nurses (Nash at al. 2012). The nurses were then assigned to school-based dental clinics throughout New Zealand.

Today 97% of New Zealand’s children are cared for by dental therapists (the name changed in 1980) who are assigned to every elementary and middle school in the country (Nash 2004). The dental therapists work under the general supervision of a district dental officer. The model developed by New Zealand was subsequently followed by other countries in an attempt to improve access to oral health services, particularly for children. There are 54 countries documented in the literature where dental therapists are currently being used, most often in school-based programs for children (Nash 2005).

It is notable that dental therapists serve in both developed and developing countries. Early adopters of dental therapists include Malaysia (1948), Sri Lanka (1949), Singapore (1950), Tanzania (1955) and the United Kingdom (1959). Later on some additional countries added dental therapists to their workforce: Australia (1966), Thailand (1968), Jamaica (1970), Canada (1972), Fiji (1973), South Africa (1975), Trinidad and Tobago (1975), Suriname (1976) and Hong Kong (1978) (Nash et al. 2012).

In the United States, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium introduced dental therapists in Alaska in 2005 (Wetterhall et al. 2010). In 2009, the state of Minnesota authorized the new profession of dental therapists to provide care to underserved communities. The first dental therapists entered practice in Minnesota in 2011 (MDH 2014).

Originally designated as dental nurses, dental therapists traditionally worked in the public sector to improve access to oral health services for underserved populations. In some countries, dental nurses are permitted to work in private practices as well and provide a range of services from prevention to restoration of primary and young permanent teeth, pulpotomies, placement of stainless steel crowns and extraction of primary teeth. Typically, dental therapists receive 18 months of training (2400 hours of curriculum) for qualification (Nash et al. 2012).