The Wisconsin Dental Association today released the following statement from WDA President Dr. Cliff Hartmann (New Berlin):
“The Wisconsin Dental Association, on behalf of our 3,100-plus member dentists, has been working toward this day for some time. We thank Gov. Evers for signing SB 392, authorizing the use of Expanded Function Dental Auxiliaries (EFDAs) in our state. We are especially grateful to bill authors State Sen. Mary Felzkowski and State Rep. Jon Plumer for their continued commitment and support, and to all of the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who voted in favor of this legislation to help address Wisconsin’s many oral health challenges.
“EFDAs are used in nearly half of the nation and the military. Once trained and certified, they are able to perform an expanded scope and can only perform these procedures while under the direct supervision of the supervising dentist. An EFDA can be used to improve access to care for underserved populations, and provide a way to deal with potential dental workforce shortages, like those we are currently seeing around the state. We stand ready to work with our state’s technical colleges to put an EFDA training program in place.
“This concludes a monumental legislative session for the WDA, which includes legislation authorizing dentists to administer COVID and influenza vaccines, a historic 40% Medicaid rate increase, and most recently our EFDA legislation. We all agree that getting more people quality oral healthcare will require a multi-pronged approach, utilizing a variety of solutions. We greatly appreciate the increased attention being paid to oral health in Wisconsin, and we look forward to building upon this success in the next session.”
