Recommended Standards for Dental Therapy Education Programs in the United States

As more states consider the addition of dental therapists to the oral health care team, national standards are needed to ensure the quality and consistency of dental therapy education. While some variation is inevitable as the practice of dental therapy takes shape across the United States, a core set of consistent national standards for education is needed to provide guidance to policymakers, boards of dentistry, regulators, employers of dental therapists, accreditation organizations, educational institutions and the public.With the goal of providing guidance to communities considering the deployment of dental therapists, Community Catalyst organized a panel of academic experts (the Advisory Panel or Panel) to develop national educational standards for programs that educate dental therapists in the United States.