Caregivers' Perceptions of Dental Therapists

Purpose: To investigate caretakers' understanding of midlevel providers and determine if there is theoretical acceptance of midlevel dental therapist (DT) integration into the dental workforce. Methods: Validated DT integration surveys were disseminated to caregivers of pediatric medical patients in an urban teaching hospital. Subjects completed a questionnaire regarding previous care received by a midlevel medical provider and were questioned on the acceptance of a midlevel dental provider (i.e., DTs) into the dental workforce. Results: Two hundred two questionnaires were evaluated for recalled previous medical midlevel care (ML; 71.2 percent) and those who were unaware of ML care being provided to their child (UML; 28.7 percent). MLs were significantly in agreement with DTs performing primary tooth restorations (P<0.001), permanent tooth restorations (P=0.001), primary tooth extractions (P=0.022), and emergency treatment (P<0.001). UMLs and MLs significantly agreed that procedures be completed with the supervision of a dentist (P<0.001). Conclusions: Caregivers of pediatric medical patients are receptive to the concept of DTs and largely agree with them performing dental procedures. However, the dissemination of information on DTs to the public is necessary to increase awareness of their education, scope of practice and integration into the dental field.