Metropolitan State opens clinic for dental therapists

Metropolitan State University is expanding community access to affordable dental care with a new dental teaching clinic for its oral healthcare practitioner students.

The clinic will open October 20 in Maplewood, MN. It will enable the students -- the first advanced dental therapist (ADTs) in the U.S. -- to provide low-cost dental care for underserved community members as the students complete required clinical hours for their degree and licensure.

The clinic has seven working stations and is equipped with digital radiography, electronic patient records, and projection capabilities linking the stations to a seminar room located in the clinic. Two of the stations were designed to accommodate patients with special needs.

Major funding for the new clinic is being provided by Delta Dental of Minnesota Trust and Henry Schein. Additional support is coming from 3M, the American Dental Hygienists' Association, Colgate, the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation, the Hardenbergh Foundation, Jean and Bruce Johnson, the Minnesota Department of Health, and United Way.

Metropolitan State projects that the four students in its second cohort of ADT students will serve 220 patients at the clinic in 2012 as part of their clinical coursework, providing evaluations, individual care plans, and oral health education, as well as additional restorative care for some patients. About 75% of these patients will receive cleaning or other preventive care, and approximately 165 radiographs will be taken and interpreted.