SB 689

This bill provides for the licensure of dental therapists, who are health care

practitioners who may engage in the limited practice of dentistry.

Under current law, dentists and dental hygienists are licensed by the Dentistry

Examining Board to practice dentistry and dental hygiene, respectively. This bill

provides for the licensure of a third type of dental practitioner, dental therapists.

Under the bill, the board must grant a dental therapist license to an individual who

satisfies certain criteria, including completion of a qualifying dental therapy

education program and passage of required examinations.

Under the bill, a dental therapy education program qualifies if the program 1)

is accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental

Accreditation (CODA); 2) is a program approved by the Minnesota Board of Dentistry

on or before the bill's effective date that has, as of the time of application, become

CODA-accredited; or 3) is a program offered in Wisconsin that has received initial

CODA accreditation but is not yet fully CODA-accredited. With respect to the third

category of dental therapy education programs (programs offered in Wisconsin), the

bill allows applicants to obtain a license on the basis of graduation from such a

program only for four years after the program's inception, and if the program is not

fully CODA-accredited by the time that four-year period has elapsed, the bill

requires the licenses of dental therapists who graduated from the program to be

revoked.

Under the bill, dental therapists may provide dental therapy services only as

an employee of specified employers and only under the supervision of a dentist who

is either similarly employed or who directly employs the dental therapist. The dental

therapist must also have a collaborative management agreement with a dentist that

addresses various aspects of the dental therapist's practice and supervision. Dental

therapists are, subject to the terms of a collaborative management agreement and

what was covered in their dental therapy education program, limited to providing

services, treatments, and procedures that are specified in the bill, as well as

additional services, treatments, or procedures specified by the board by rule. Dental

therapists may initially provide dental therapy services only under the direct or

indirect supervision of a qualifying dentist. Once a dental therapist licensed has

provided dental therapy services for at least 2,000 hours, the dental therapist may

provide services under the general supervision of a qualifying dentist. However, the

level of supervision for a dental therapist may be further limited under the terms of

a collaborative management agreement. Dental therapists must also, under the bill,

either 1) limit their practice to federally defined dental shortage areas or 2) practice

in settings where at least 50 percent of their patient base consists of certain specified

populations. Dental therapists must complete 12 hours of continuing education each

biennium.

The bill subjects dental therapists to, or covers dental therapists under, various