ODH High School Dental Assisting Program: An Update


by JACQUELINE MILLER, DDS, MS, MPH T


he Missouri Office of Dental Health (ODH) has amazing news! In a previous update in this publication, we shared our desire to pilot dental assist- ing programs in high school career centers/ votech schools. The goal of the project is to create programs to entice and enhance dental assisting educational opportunities. We want to thank Delta Dental for providing funding to start the project (of note, MPCA provides an update on page 29 about their related project also funded by Delta Dental; only the career centers are part of the project discussed in this article.)


The projected start is the fall 2024 semester, so there could be high school students look- ing for opportunities for hands-on learning within your practices next fall. This type of learning model would allow dentists to con- sider hiring these students once they finish their studies, as they should also have passed their Missouri Dental Assisting Skills (MDAS) Exam (commonly, and herein, referred to at the Basic Skills Exam).


The ODH estimates the oral healthcare workforce lost approximately 1,000 oral healthcare workers statewide due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most acute short- ages are hygienists and expanded func- tion dental assistants (EFDAs). Anecdotal evidence indicates that rural areas were more severely impacted. A 2020 survey conducted by the ADA Health Policy Institute evaluat- ing Missouri dental practices during COVID revealed 57.4 percent experienced dental team members were not returning to work due to safety concerns in providing care and 70.7 percent indicated having had issues with hiring or re-hiring dental assistants.


Career centers/votech schools in rural areas of Missouri offer educational opportunities for high school students as well as adults already working in the community. Initially, the ODH along with the career centers, are developing a 10-month educational pilot


program for high school juniors and seniors to allow students to graduate with a dental assisting certificate and complete their Basic Skills Exam. If a high school junior complet- ed their Basic Skills Exam, they then can con- tinue their education and work toward the didactic portion of their Expanded Functions Dental Assisting (EFDA) certificates while still in high school.


The didactic portion of the program will be delivered in the school classrooms with the majority of the hands-on portion in dental offices. The clinical observation/internship will be arranged with local dental offices and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). After completing their requirements and evaluations in the dental offices, the students have the potential of job opportunities after graduating from high school and the dental assisting program.


Once the initial program is established, we would like to offer the didactic por- tions of the program to rural areas using teledentistry. Ideally, all the didactic modules would be filmed and provided synchronously and asynchronously (both real-time and on- demand viewing) to other parts of the state. Any hands-on portions would be provided in local dental offices and FQHCs.


Students who successfully complete the career center/votech program and pass the Basic Skills Exam will be eligible for EFDA training. If this is after a student’s junior year, they could take EFDA courses their senior year, or if a senior, they could be ready to take EFDA courses upon graduation from high school.


We are very fortunate in having three high school votech schools that have expressed interest in partnering with us: Pike/Lincoln Technical Career Center, Eolia (Pike County), Clinton Technical School, Clinton (Henry County) and Lewis & Clark Career Center, St. Charles (St. Charles County).


CONTINUED PAGE 27 ISSUE 3 | FALL 2023 | focus 25


Supporting Traditional and New Dental Team Educational Programs


W


hat is the MDA doing to support traditional dental team education programs


as a part of improved dental workforce and patient care?


This is a question we get asked. MDA will always advocate for and support formal dental education programs, and incremental steps are being taken to increase dental team members through funding infrastructure and faculty to maintain viability and add seats in cur- rent dental education programs for as- sistants and hygienists (as described in the SFCC and SLCC updates on pages 28-29).


But MDA also is advocating for non- traditional educational models to fill the pipeline of dental assistants and hygienists, such as through votech programs (as described in Dr. Miller’s update on page 25) and through preceptorship programs (as described in the State Fair update on page 28). Additionally, MDA supports advancement in licensure models, such as the state of Missouri to allow dentist and dental hygiene compacts (see page 15) that can ease the transition for dentists and hygienists from one state to another and more.


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