NEW YORK PARTNERSHIP FOR DENTAL THERAPY

Newsletter | August 2026

Dear Friend,

This month brings the story of a dental hygienist's decision to pursue dental therapy, insights from other states who have authorized dental therapy, and reflections from the American Dental Therapy Association's conference.

Meet Jory - a registered dental hygienist in Schenectady, NY. Hear about his decision to pursue a career in dental therapy and what it would mean for him to return to his hometown and expand access to care if New York passes a practice act.  

Learn more about Jory by reading his blog post.  

New Webinar Recording Available

Building the Path Forward: Lessons from States That Got Dental Therapy Done



This webinar brought together advocates from Wisconsin and Washington State who led the effort to authorize dental therapy in their states. Both saw how severe the gap in access to treatment had become, and both took on the work of bringing this established profession, already practicing successfully in other states and countries for decades, into their own. They will share what set their campaigns in motion, what their states ultimately achieved, and how implementation looks today. 



For New York, these stories show a clear and proven path forward. Dental therapy is not an untested idea. It is a well-established profession that other states have already brought into their systems, and one that New York policymakers can reasonably build on to close the state’s access gap.

Speakers: 

Marcy Bowers 

Executive Director, Statewide Poverty Action Network, Washington 

Matt Crespin, MPH, RDH 

Executive Director, Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin 

Slides available here.

Save the Date - Upcoming Webinars!

Dental Therapy in Community Health Centers: What Your Team Needs to Know

Presented by Community Catalyst

📅 Sep 15, 2026 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

🔗 Click Here to Register

Community health centers are an essential piece of the health care safety net, yet face growing challenges in providing dental care. As coverage losses push more people toward health centers, demand for sliding scale dental care is expected to climb — even as health center budgets grow more constrained. Dental therapists can be one part of the answer. Licensed members of the dental team who provide routine preventive and restorative care under a dentist's supervision, dental therapists help health centers serve more patients, shorten wait times, and bring care into community settings, all while making tight budgets work. Fourteen states now authorize dental therapy and that number is growing, so whether or not your state is one of them, it's worth understanding the model.

This webinar is a primer for health center leadership, dental directors, dentists, dental hygienists, and clinical and administrative staff and will feature dental therapists practicing in community health centers, including a clinical leader who oversees oral health services at her health center. We'll cover what dental therapists are trained and licensed to do, how supervision works, how health centers have integrated them into care teams, pathways into the profession and the operational and financial impact of hiring. Free continuing education credit is available to attendees thanks to the Arcora Foundation.

Mapping Oral Health Needs Across New York State

Presented by the Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center and The Schuyler Center

📅 Tuesday, September 29 at 2:00 pm EST

🔗 Click Here to Register

This webinar will share findings from the 2024 New York State Oral Health Needs Assessment, highlighting communities with the greatest oral health needs and barriers to care. The webinar will explore how these findings can help guide policies and workforce strategies to improve access to oral health services, especially for underserved and vulnerable populations.

For more about the report, visit the Schuyler Center’s Future Oral Health Workforce project page.

Sharing the Load: New Research Shows Team-Based Dental Care Reaches More Kids

A new study in the British Dental Journal uses workforce modeling to show how sharing preventive dental care across a full dental team, including dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists, and extended duties dental nurses, can meet children's oral health needs more efficiently than relying on dentists alone. The researchers found that a single-provider approach would require nearly 8,000 dentists to deliver preventive care to England's child population, while a team-based approach using all three provider types brought that number down to under 12,000 total staff across the whole team. The findings add to a growing body of evidence that team-based care models, already used in states with dental therapy, can expand access without compromising quality. It's a helpful data point as New York considers how to build out its own dental workforce to reach more children.

Prevention first – modelling evidence-based prevention with the dental team for children in England | British Dental Journal | Springer Nature Link

We invite you to sign on as a member of the New York Partnership for Dental Therapy. Membership means a shared commitment to supporting the authorization of dental therapists to practice in New York State; it is not an endorsement of specific legislation.  

Together, we can take strides toward ensuring that all New Yorkers can access the oral health care they need, no matter their income or zip code. Click here to see our list of current members.

Questions? Contact us at nydentaltherapy@scaany.org.

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