Alaska Native Dental Health litigation

The American Dental Association (AmDA), the Alaska Dental Society (ADS) and several individual dentists filed a lawsuit on January 31, 2006 in state Superior Court, seeking to stop the unlicensed practice of dentistry and dental surgery by non-dentists.

The AmDA has published an issues paper, media press kit and an alternative proposal to the use of Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs) on their website.

The complaint asks the court to declare the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and its DHATs in violation of state dental licensing laws.

According to the AmDA, DHATs receive only 18 to 24 months training in a foreign dental school, and generally have only a high school education or its equivalent. The procedures at issue include extracting and drilling teeth and performing root canal-like surgery on primary teeth—surgical procedures for which the skills of fully trained, licensed dentists are absolutely essential.

“I want to make it clear that the ADA supports every other aspect of the dental health aide program, said Robert M. Brandjord, D.D.S., AmDA president. “That means we support education, prevention, oral health literacy programs, water fluoridation, sealant programs, nutrition programs, literally anything and everything that helps prevent dental disease.

“All of us in the dental community regret terribly that the situation has deteriorated to the point of litigation. But we cannot and will not stand by while non-dentists perform irreversible dental surgery on Alaska Natives and others, procedures that other Americans receive only from fully trained, licensed dentists who operate under the safety and accountability standards set by state dental boards.”