Igniting a movement in a dual-licensed dental workforce: The Minnesota model.

Aims: Increased awareness of oral health disparities in the United States has highlighted the need to expand the workforce and access to both primary and preventive dental care. Achieving the goal of oral health equity will require dental team members with appropriate clinical skills dedicated to reaching historically marginalized populations through intra- and interprofessional practice.

Materials And Methods: Collective efforts by healthcare advocates in Minnesota led to legislation that created a dental hygiene-based workforce model inspired by the vision and foresight of the American Dental Hygienists' Association's 'Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner'.

Igniting a Movement in a Dual Licensed Dental Workforce: The Minnesota Model.

Increased awareness of oral health disparities in the United States has highlighted the need to expand the workforce and access to both primary and preventive dental care. Achieving oral health equity will require new dental team members with appropriate clinical skills dedicated to reaching historically marginalized populations through intra and interprofessional practice. Collective efforts by health care advocates in Minnesota led to legislation that created a dental hygiene-based workforce model inspired by the vision and foresight of the American Dental Hygienists' Association's "Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner.