Supporters of a dental therapy bill say it would be a win-win for Wisconsin, but opponents say there are better alternatives. The senate health committee held a public hearing on the bipartisan measure Wednesday. Jason Hicks is a phd candidate at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Hicks testified that creating a dental therapist license would help provide dental access for thousands of disadvantaged kids in Wisconsin. “Children from low income backgrounds, African-American and Hispanic adults have disproportionate levels of untreated dental care as do seniors in nursing homes, individuals with disabilities, low income families, and part of the problem is a lack of access,” Hicks told WFDL news. Hicks says dental therapists would be a step below a dentist, akin to a physician’s assistant, and could perform basic procedures such as check-ups, filling cavities and pulling teeth. Sam Twohig is the Fond du Lac County Oral Health Program Coordinator. Twohig says she’s not sure dental therapists are the answer. “If they simply used that financial support to increase the current medical assistant rates I think you might see a pretty impressive increase in dental access from that,” Twohig told WFDL news. “As a state, we are one of the lowest in the country for medical assistance reimbursement. That’s one of the major barriers to dentists accepting patients with that type of coverage.” Supporters include groups representing Wisconin’s business community, public school officials, public health clinics, hospitals, Indian tribes, health and dental insurers, doctors, city and county governments and consumer advocates. Democratic governor Tony Evers also supports the bill.
