American Dental Therapy Association
3300 Arctic Blvd
Anchorage, AK
United States
The American Dental Therapy Association (ADTA) is the national association representing and supporting dental therapists in the United States to provide the highest quality dental care for patients and communities.
ADTA was founded in 2009 as an all-volunteer nonprofit driven by officers and intermittent consultants. In May of 2022, ADTA hired its first Interim Executive Director, through funding support from Community Catalyst, which has allowed for the modernization of the organization’s mission, bylaws, financial systems and board and leadership roles. ADTA received 501(c)3 tax-exempt status in 2022. In that same year, ADTA received a grant in the amount of $160,707 from CareQuest Institute to support its work, utilizing Heluna Health as its fiscal agent.
ADTA requests funding to complete the dental therapy national compensation survey in partnership with CareQuest Institute’s Analytics and Data Insights team. The survey will provide dental therapists with reputable data to support fair compensation for their work, increasing the retention of dental therapists as oral healthcare providers. ADTA is hopeful the survey data will result in dental clinics increasingly considering the employment of dental therapists through having supportive data on fair compensation, which will create more access to care for underserved populations.
ADTA also requests funding to develop, distribute, and analyze data from Minimally Invasive Dentistry (MID) and Caries Management By Risk Assessment (CAMBRA) workgroup surveys. This work will highlight the role of MID/Minimally invasive care (MIC) in dental therapy education programs as well as the impact MIC/MID education has on dental therapists and their supervising dentists in post-education, clinical settings. The report created by the ADTA will elevate the opportunity for dental therapists to be a driver of MID/MMC. This research will include policy recommendations that serve to strengthen the access to and availability of MID/MMC. creating more access to patient-centered models of care.
The above work is essential currently as many states are launching dental therapy campaigns to authorize dental therapy, as well as the push for oral healthcare providers to practice dentistry in a more patient centered care approach.
ADTA is requesting $75,000 for this work which is 20% of the organization’s overall budget. Most funds will be used to support staff time. Additionally, funds will be allocated to conference travel, supplies, and contracted services.