Development and Status of the Advanced Dental Hygiene Practitioner (Critical Issues in Dental Hygiene‪)‬

Introduction In March 2009, President Barack Obama initiated his first step to reform the United States health care system by hosting a task force representing many stakeholders in health care. Unfortunately, dentistry and dental hygiene were not involved. (1) While dental spending topped $100 billion in 2008, (2) there are "profound and consequential oral health disparities within racial and ethnic minorities, rural populations, individuals with disabilities, the homeless, immigrants, migrant workers, the very young and the frail elderly." (3) As we continue to educate our nation's leaders on the importance of oral health as part of the health care reform agenda, it is dentistry and dental hygiene's ongoing responsibility to work collaboratively to eliminate access to care deficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to explain the need for the advanced dental hygiene practitioner (ADHP) as proposed by the American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA), and to report on the status of its implementation.