False Comparison: Dental Therapists vs. Nurse Practitioners

Feb 9, 2024
Advocates proposing dental therapist legislation in Florida have compared dental therapists to nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This is a false comparison.
The education and training of nurse practitioners and physician assistants compared to the training of dental therapists is not equivalent. It’s clear that nurse practitioners and physician assistants have more education and training than dental therapists. For more information and a true comparison, click here.

The proposed legislation, HB 683 by Rep. Daniel Perez (R-Miami) and SB 1498 by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), would allow an individual with a high school diploma and three years of dental therapy training, perform irreversible surgical procedures, such as extractions, pulpotomies (partial root canals) and administer local anesthesia under the general supervision of a dentist. Legislators need to know that “general supervision” means the dentist does not have to check the work of the dental therapist and does not need to be in the building when the dental therapist is performing surgery — basically, “no supervision.”

Capital Report, Vol. 25, No. 2 - Jan. 19, 2019