Governor Shumlin has officially signed S.20 into law, establishing dental therapists in Vermont!

Patrick Rowe: Dental therapists could boost access to dental care

Voices has long been concerned with health disparities that are masked by Vermont’s relatively good record on providing health care.

We are advocating for increased access to oral health care in Vermont.

A couple years ago, back pain forced Dave Couture to leave his job in an accounting office in Vermont.

Fifteen years ago this spring, Surgeon General David Satcher issued a call to action to address what he called America’s “silent epidemic”–the growing incidence of dental disease in this country.

A large coalition of health and consumer groups is backing a plan to improve access to dental care for thousands of Vermonters.

State officials, advocates and providers agree that not enough low-income Vermonters are getting in to see a dentist, but a fight is brewing in the Legislature about how to change that.

Last year a bill to license dental practitioners, who could perform oral health services at a dentist’s discretion, was derailed, but lawmakers in the House and Senate have reintroduced it this year.

Tis the season for candy canes, hot chocolate, and other sugary holiday treats, but there is some sobering news on the dental front in Vermont, with Bennington County not being exempt.

Watch Dr. Steve Arthur, Director of the Office of Oral Health, discuss how the lack of access to dental care has a negative impact on Vermonters.

For years, I watched people suffer in pain, contract dangerous infections, and lose their ability to chew their food and their desire to smile all from a preventable disease that as a dentist, I was trained to treat — tooth decay.

At our free clinic in Barre, we treat hundreds of patients from nearly 50 different towns in central Vermont.

An article in The Bennington Banner illustrates the importance of consumer advocacy in the fight for oral health for all.