Need a tooth pulled or a cavity filled? Forget the dentist.
A number of states are allowing or considering letting "dental therapists," professionals with a lower level of training, do the job.
In dozens of countries and a handful of U.S. states, dental therapists also sometimes called advanced dental hygiene practitioners help fill gaps in access to oral care for low-income, elderly and disabled people, and in rural areas where few dentists practice, according to many public health advocates.
Dentists have long opposed the midlevel position, citing concerns over safety and supervision.
In Massachusetts, a group that lobbies on behalf of dentists has for the first time signaled a willingness to embrace the concept, though its proposal is viewed as unnecessarily restrictive by sponsors of a competing bill in the Legislature.