By: Trimmel Gomes
Similar to food trucks, where the food kind of
comes to you, mobile dental units are used to expand access to care in
hard-to-reach, low-income and other communities in need.
Proposals in the
Legislature aim to help them expand their reach even more. The bills
would allow all of what's known as "Health Access Settings" or state
programs or institutions, and accredited dental hygiene programs to be able to
be able to contract with mobile dental units.
Chante Miller, a certified registered dental hygienist, said the change is
welcomed because it is common for Health Access Settings such as a Head Start
Center to be located 15 to 20 miles away from a brick-and-mortar dentist, and
parents often cannot navigate coordinating transportation with their work
schedules.
"They wouldn't be able to afford to take off missing a day's pay,"
Miller explained. "That's why it's important to have mobile units that
have the ability to go where those children are and families are to provide
services to them instead."
The proposal has a long list of supporters encouraging
lawmakers to support the change, such as the Florida Dental Hygienists
Association and Floridians for Dental Access. However, the Florida Dental
Association, which is in communication with those organizations, said it is monitoring
"to ensure that policies are not being implemented that could compromise
mobile dental bus programs that are currently in place and effectively reaching
communities."
The proposal also clarifies the definition of a mobile dental unit and Miller pointed
out it does not expand the scope of practice for dental hygienists. In fact,
she noted some of the units can have just about everything you would find in a
dental office, and some of them just have the essentials to provide basic
hygiene care.
"They are able to get work without the presence of a dentist and those
Health Access Settings, so if they are on the mobile unit, they can provide
those health-access services to Head Start Centers without a dentist being
present," Miller emphasized. "Of course, for follow-up care, we refer
them back to a dentist."
Miller and others are hoping the proposal will advance in committees. It also
calls for the Board of Dentistry to require persons applying to take dental
hygiene examinations to maintain medical malpractice insurance in certain
amounts. Florida leads the nation in the number of individuals living in Dental
Health Professional Shortage Areas, with nearly six million.
Content for this Post is provided by Florida News
Connection, a Bureau of Public News Service.
Public News Service is a member of the The Trust Project.
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