{"id":11404,"date":"2026-01-07T17:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/?p=11404"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:52:32","slug":"dental-therapists-offer-more-than-just-hygiene-for-native-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/2026\/01\/07\/dental-therapists-offer-more-than-just-hygiene-for-native-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Dental therapists offer more than just hygiene for Native communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-11406\" src=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-300x172.png\" alt=\"A guest looks at a commemorative book during a ceremony for the inaugural graduating class of Skagit Valley College and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community\u2019s dental therapy program at the Swinomish Casino and Lodge in Anacortes in June, 2025.\" width=\"300\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-1024x587.png 1024w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-768x440.png 768w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-1536x880.png 1536w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/tribal-dental-therapy-2048x1174.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>In 2017, state lawmakers unanimously passed legislation recognizing dental therapists on tribal lands. Broader licensing, allowing dental therapists to work in community health clinics across Washington, took effect on Oct. 31 of this year.<\/p>\n<p>The tribe started the education program in 2022 so future dental therapists didn\u2019t have to travel to Alaska to receive training. Graduates describe it as an intense but fulfilling three years.<\/p>\n<p>The curriculum, which was inspired by Alaska\u2019s program, overlaps with dental hygiene early on but then expands as students learn restorative procedures, diagnosis and patient management, said Cheyanne Warren, who leads the education program. A major emphasis is trauma-informed care, cultural humility and motivational interviewing \u2014 techniques to counteract fear and mistrust.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/education-lab\/dental-therapists-offer-more-than-just-hygiene-for-native-communities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[342],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wohw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11407,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11404\/revisions\/11407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}