Dental Health Aide Therapist
Download
Report
Transcript Dental Health Aide Therapist
By Phylicia Wilde
Dental Health Aide Therapist
Mountain Village/ Saint Mary’s
Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation
Phylicia Wilde
Dental Health Aide Therapist
Eskimo Dancing
Harvesting Fish
Moose Hunting
Reasons Why I Chose to Become a
Dental Health Aide Therapist
•The need for Dental Care
•Remote villages
•Infrequent visits by dentists
•Costly and difficult to travel from village to
dentist
•Personal Experience
•Toothache at age 14, no providers in village
•Miss school, difficulty eating and sleeping
•Root Canal
DHAT Curriculum
Year 1: basic health sciences,
basic dental concepts,
professional role
development, introduction
to clinic, typodont
preclinical labs, patient
and facilities management.
DHAT Students Kate Kohl, Trisha Patton
dissecting a cow heart
Year 2: clinical year,
expansion of concepts
learned in first year,
extractions, community
projects, village dental
rotations
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation
•Main Hub is in Bethel, Alaska
•Serves 58 rural communities
•Area the size of the State of Oregon
Map of Subregional Clinic Areas
St. Mary’s Sub
Regional Clinic
Mountain Village
Denali Clinic
Mountain Village Dental Clinic
Procedures
•Community Dental Outreach
programs
•Exam, X-rays, caries risk, Treatment
planning
•Fluoride therapy
•Diet and oral health education
•Sealants
•Simple cleanings
•Local Anesthesia
•Fillings
•Permanent or temporary
•Stainless steel crowns (primary teeth)
•Puplotomies (primary teeth)
•Uncomplicated extractions of teeth
•Emergency services
•To manage pain and infection
•Referrals
That of a DHAT +
•Complex Fillings
•Crowns, Bridges, Implants
•Deep cleanings
•Root Canal Therapy
•Implants
•Complex extractions of
teeth (Surgical)
•Dentures/partial dentures
•Prescribe medication
•Periodontal Surgery
DHAT and Supervising Dentist
•Dentist signs off on the
DHAT’s individual
standing orders
•Limits what the DHAT can do
under general supervision.
•Consult on cases
•Work as team to address
oral health needs in our
Region
•Together can do more than the
dentist could do alone.
DHAT students Bernadette
Charles and Tambre Guido with
supervising dentist Edwin
Allgair, 2010
Communities
I Serve
Pilot Station
Marshall
Mountain Village
Transportation
Before DHATs
•Long waiting lists
•>50% kids Operating
Room referrals
•Lack of time for
Community
projects/Educating
parents and patients of
Oral Health
DHAT as Part of a Dentist Lead Team
Has Led to Changes in My Community
•Less OR referrals
•Less emergency cases
(toothaches, broken
teeth)
•Less travel to Bethel
for treatment
•More time for
preventive/communitybased projects
Trisha Patton, DHAT student,
taking x-rays on a patient
Community Projects
•0-5 year old screenings
•Head Start visits
•School screenings
Betadine/Fluoride
applications
•Diabetic patients
•Prenatal patients
Chelsea Shoemaker, Bonnie Johnson,
Corrina Cadzow (DHAT students)
providing fluoride varnish treatment
for a Head Start student.
Thank you,
Questions or Comments?