The first class of dental health aide therapists (DHATs) to be trained in Alaska has graduated, according to a KTUU TV news story.
The four graduates of the Anchorage-based Dentex program bring the total number of DHATs in Alaska to 14, with six more in training, according to the story. The original DHATs were trained in New Zealand.
The Dentex program, which is run by the University of Washington School of Medicine, was established in January 2007 to train Alaska Natives to provide dental care to Alaska Native communities in the Alaska bush.
DHATs are authorized to provide oral exams, preventive dental services, simple restorations, stainless steel crowns, and extractions, plus take x-rays -- all with just a high school education and two years of training.
The ADA was so concerned about what it sees as potential risks with this model that it sued the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, which oversees the DHAT program, in 2006 to block the program. The ADA lost that lawsuit.
