CURRENT
EVENTS
Keep up to date on what is happening here in Missouri.
1. The Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact bills have returned. The Senate bill is SB 327 (Sen. Ben Brown is the sponsor) and the House bill is HB 56 (Rep. Jeff Coleman is the sponsor). There is another compact bill which we do not support, Senate bill 109 (Sen. Justin Brown is the sponsor).
2. Have you heard about the pilot programs that the Missouri Dental Board have approved? Click the button below to learn about the current Nursing Home Pilot Project with Telehealth and the proposed Oral Preventive Assistant "OPA" Pilot Project.
3. Local Anesthesia Under General Supervision: The Missouri Dental Board is moving this forward!
The Missouri Dental Board proposed rule change for Local Anesthesia Under General
Supervision by Dental Hygienists was finalized October 1, 2024 with its printing in the Missouri Register. It went into effect on November 30, 2024. However, there are many steps that must first be taken.
Read below for the final rule wording as well as to familiarize yourself with the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Classifications that this rule change will inforce.
4. Elections: MDHA urges all hygienists to be aware of those who won elections in your area, as you may need to contact them to oppose the expansion of the scaling assistant proposal. We may be facing a scaling assistant bill in the future the MDA wants to make the pilot program permanent legislation. It will likely occur in 2026.
*Please also consider giving a MO-HY PAC donation to help our political action committee support candidates who may support our concerns.
Left, middle side of the page you will find this box:
5. School Expansion: There are plans to expand the number of dental hygienists in Missouri
with expansions to dental hygiene programs. St. Louis Community College will add a second program at the Florissant Valley campus to add another 32 students. Work on the building is underway, and goal open date is Fall 2025. State Fair Community College hopes to create a distance education location in Columbia with 10 more students, as well as add students to its Sedalia campus.
This will help our dental hygiene workforce situation in which we lost 4 dental hygiene educational sites from the 10 we previously had.