OPA EFDA: An Update T


his summer, the Oral Preventive Assistant (OPA EFDA) pilot project advanced through another significant hurdle: rule promulgation.


The promulgation of the rule to accept the waiver, sent by the Missouri Dental Board so this project can officially commence, was stamped with approval by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) in late August. This was following the rule being officially published May 1, at which time we encouraged members to send letters of support for the proposed OPA EFDA rule during the 30-day comment period.


During this period, the MDA engaged in significant advocacy and communication efforts to its members, who resoundingly responded with letters of support which were instrumental in this moving forward successfully. There are numerous members who, for months, have met and communicated consistently with their representatives and senators to explain the OPA project and what this type of EFDA can provide for the benefit of the dental workforce, dental practices and patient care.


At the same time the OPA EFDA rule was advancing, so too was the full promulgation of rule to allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia under general supervision. The rule specifies the ASA classification of patients a hygienist can provide this service to with- out a dentist present; it is not all classifications of patients. The MDA has been supportive of this rule, which also works for the benefit of the dental workforce, dental practices and patient care. Members can go online to modental.org/oparegister to read these rules.


The OPA EFDA rule is now in the process of moving to a final order of rulemaking and will be published in the October 1 register with a November 30 effective date, with the pilot to begin as of December 1. While this process has taken longer than the MDA had wished — we began working with supervising doctors from the clinical sites partici- pating in the pilot in November 2023 and trained OPA candidates in January, February and March of this year — we are grateful to finally begin the pilot and report on its outcomes.


“We are looking forward to getting started with actual care and col- lection of data,” said Vicki Wilbers, MDA Executive Director. “We are hosting a refresher course at the end of September for all candidates, and the dentists and teams at pilot sites are poised to begin.”


She also noted that in this period of waiting, pilot sites have been collecting data on patients for a comparative analysis that will be part of the reporting. Pilot sites will report various metrics to the ADA Health Policy Institute (HPI) to analyze the data.


“We often talk about the Power of Three: what the ADA, MDA and local levels provide in member benefits,” said Wilbers. “This is a great example of that, because the HPI team is a trusted powerhouse that


will analyze this data and communicate it effectively to all stakehold- ers, which adds validity to the pilot, and at no cost. Ultimately, this data will be paramount to the OPA EFDA becoming available for more practices in the state, which will be a great benefit to members who continue to communicate to us the great need for this.”


WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE OPA EFDA PROJECT?


The MDA continues to receive interest in the OPA program from both doctors and assistants asking about participating in the training. At this time, the project remains in the pilot stage, which requires the MDA to limit the training and certification to dental sites already approved. The information from the data gathered at these pilot sites will be used in legislative and regulatory work in the future.


In the meantime, the MDA remains committed to EFDA and dental assistant education. MDA continues to host all five current EFDA courses at its new clinical training center in Jefferson City. This facil- ity offers the latest technology, with all courses taught by MDA mem- ber dentists who have been trained specifically for teaching EFDA programs. So far this year, 18 courses have been hosted, successfully training 227 dental assistants.


Additionally, the MDA has created and continues to host a quarterly Basic Skills Review Course. This in-person review, taught by Linda Twehous, CDA, EFDA and longtime dental assistant educator, has been successful in preparing students to pass the Missouri Test of Basic Dental Assisting Skills, which is a prerequisite to take EFDA courses. The final review course of 2024 will be October 18. Learn more and register at moefda.org.


The MDA is in the process of creating a Nitrous Oxide Monitoring course, which members continue to express is greatly needed as it is hard to find this training consistently provided in the state. The MDA is finalizing the curriculum, clinical course components and testing to present to the Missouri Dental Board for approval, and hopes to begin offering the hands-on course at its clinical training center in Jefferson City in early 2025.


“I can’t say enough about the MDA EFDA program and all the work related to it,” said Wilbers. “I am grateful for the members who are so committed to developing curriculum, training assistants and advocating as needed to continue moving this program forward. We know how important the entire dental team is to practice success and excellence in patient care — and the MDA EFDA program is one of the integral dental team pieces.”


ISSUE 3 | FALL 2024 | focus 13


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