RDH shares thoughts on MLPs; NiTi endodontic files compared

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

The debate over proposed legislation in Washington state that would create two new types of midlevel providers (MLPs) is heating up as the bills make their way through the state Senate.

Opponents argue that MLPs will not have adequate training to do irreversible procedures and will put patients at risk. They also contend that adding MLPs to the dental team will do little to reduce the cost of dental care or address mounting access-to-care issues among underserved populations.

But Lynn Stedman, RDH, president of the Washington State Dental Hygienists' Association, has a different take on the importance of MLPs in a healthcare industry that is finding it a challenge to provide adequate care to all. Read more.

In related news, legislation being developed by a U.S. senator seeks to address the access-to-care issue in a different way: by making it easier to practice medicine across state lines. Click here to read more about the proposed bill, which would apply to those wanting to provide teleradiology and telemedicine services in states outside of those in which they are licensed.

And in Restoratives Community news, a study in the International Endodontic Journal compared two relatively new single-file nickel-titanium (NiTi) endodontic systems with two full-sequence rotary NiTi systems to determine which performed the fastest and removed the most debris. Click here to read what researchers from the University of Münster found.