After months of disagreement, the Oregon Oral Health Coalition and the Oregon Dental Association have joined forces to draft legislation that would tackle the state's access to dental care and lack of workforce issues, according to a news story in the Lund Report.
Senate Bill 738 came before the Senate Committee on Health Care, Human Services and Rural Health Policy March 9, according to the story.
"The timing of Senate Bill 738 is perfect," said Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham), who had urged the two groups to reach a compromise. "It is imperative for our committee to look at all kinds of ways to deal with access and our limited workforce and scope of practice issues."
According to the story, the Oral Health Coalition supported introducing a dental therapist, a recommendation that was opposed by the dental association.
The bill does not call for the creation of a midlevel provider model, but it does propose enhancing the scope of practice of existing dental health workers (hygienists) and authorizing them to perform more duties, according to the story.
