Dental Therapy on the Swinomish Reservation

Growing up on the Swinomish reservation, I never imagined that I could have a career in medicine. I tried hard in school, but I never saw dentists or doctors who looked like the people I grew up with. That all changed when our tribe brought in a dental therapist.

Study tracks benefit of dental therapists in tribal communities

Residents of Alaskan tribal communities regularly served by dental therapists are receiving more preventive care and experiencing fewer tooth extractions than people living in communities without these dental workers, a peer-reviewed study has concluded.

The unexpected political power of dentists

AUGUSTA, Maine — Little in politics has surprised Richard Malaby as much as the power of dentists. For years, local dentists held four Christmas parties at Malaby’s 19th-century country inn in the picturesque town of Hancock. But in 2014, Malaby, a Republican lawmaker in the Maine state legislature, voted to create a new type of dental provider to perform basic services in poor and rural areas.