A study of consumer opinion of midlevel dental providers

The current lack of accessible oral health care suggests the need for research into innovative solutions to meet the public’s oral health needs. The development of policies and plans to address ways to improve access to dental care for the underserved is important to individual and community health. The purpose of this study was to determine the potential for consumer acceptance of the use of midlevel dental providers in Connecticut. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Participants (n=53) were a non-probability sample of parents of children and adults who receive services in school and community dental clinics in urban areas of Connecticut. The most frequent reason reported for delaying or forgoing care was the high cost of dental care (76.4%), followed by lack of dental insurance (61.7%) and inability to pay insurance co-payment (23.5%). Participants reported a moderate level of agreement on perceived skill of dental therapists compared to dentists (M = 2.05, SD = 1.04). The frequency of acceptance for services in the proposed expanded scope of a dental therapist was dental fillings (75.5%), extractions (71.7%) and prescription of medications for pain or infection (67.9%). The results were similar for parents’ acceptance of the services for their children, though slightly higher. Independent t-test results showed significantly higher acceptability of services from a dental therapist for those not having a regular place for care (p = .01) or not having a recent dental visit (p = .02).