Legislative Process

The Michigan State Denturist Society is looking forward to working hard with the state legislature to regulate the Denturist Profession in Michigan. Our goal is to introduce a bill to create a board that will serve to license Denturists, enforce statute and rule that provide the scope of the Denturists practice, and process complaints in a timely manner.  All of these areas will serve to protect the public and provide access to care.  The Board will be entirely self funded through licensing and processing fees-

THERE WILL BE NO COST TO THE TAX PAYER!!!

There have been numerous studies that show the benefits of the addition of Denturists to the the aging population.  We have pulled out some quotes from these and they are listed below.  You can view the full text of the studies below the quotes.

“I am speaking about a worthwhile, completely legalized practice which has served hundreds of thousands of people in Canada without any problems for 16 years. I am speaking of a practice which is well established in at least 25 other countries in the world.”

“My colleagues (dentists) would like you to believe that they, and they alone, are responsible for detecting all cases of oral cancer, with no help, whatsoever, from anyone–including the patient. This just is not true.”

“The fact that a denturist will be legally permitted to provide denture services will serve to improve the detection ratio of oral cancer.  More people will take advantage of the lower costs of dentures to seek more care. More mouths will be opened and inspected… more opportunities for detection will present themselves.”

“They (the denturists) are sincere, dedicated professionals who know their craft, and know it well.”

“There are millions and millions of others of all ages who need dentures or denture services, but just can’t afford it.  The legalization of denturists is the only answer to this problem.”

Dr Christensen Denturism and Oral Cancer Rebuttal

“Although dentists have a monopoly on the denture business in Michigan, there is another avenue by which dentures can be provided to the public. In other countries, and recently in other states, trained non-dentists known as Denturists provide denture services to the public.”

“The state regulates dental services (and other health professions) because such regulation is deemed necessary in order to protect the public interest by enforcing minimum quality standards. The form of regulation, which is relevant to this discussion of denturists, is regulation that allows only licensed dentists to provide dentures directly to consumers. By limiting the number of suppliers, the state is limiting competition and helping to keep prices higher than they would otherwise be.”

“The cost data from Canada and the U.S. show that denturists in independent practice provide dentures at about half the cost of dentists.”

“Evidence suggests a high degree of consumer satisfaction.  The advantages to the consumer of the same person seeing the patient and fashioning the dentures is obvious in such areas as proper ?tting and adjustment, aesthetics, economics and waiting time involved”

Michigan Denturist Study

“The current method of denture care delivery in the United States is … failing to meet the needs of our edentulous population”

“Twenty-?ve percent of all Americans over age 65 need to have a complete upper or lower denture (or both) constructed, either because they have so ill-?tting as to be beyond repair.”

“The vast majority (of people with dentures) have not obtained any care within a ?ve-year period”

“Non-dentists currently fabricate and evaluate the technical quality of complete dentures. The staff of this office believes that many non-dentists could also competently take impressions and ?t dentures, and so could provide dentures of a quality equal to that required of dental licensees.”

FTC Denturist Recommendation Document

 

“The Health Professions Review Committee concluded there is a problem of accessibility to low cost denture services”

“Denturists’ charges remain(ed) at about half of the dentist’s’ charge”

Washington State Denturist Study