Throughout the nation, organized dentistry and arranged dental hygiene are sometimes portrayed as opposing forces. Legislative classes turn out to be battlegrounds, scope-of-practice discussions turn out to be territorial disputes, {and professional} relationships can deteriorate into public battle.
Colorado has taken a distinct path.
For many years, the Colorado Dental Affiliation (CDA) and the Colorado Dental Hygienists’ Affiliation (CODHA) have maintained a collaborative relationship rooted in communication, mutual respect, and a shared dedication to bettering oral health-care entry. Whereas disagreements inevitably come up, Colorado has largely resisted the adversarial “turf struggle” tradition seen in lots of different states. As a substitute, the 2 organizations have labored to construct a progressive oral health-care mannequin that advantages suppliers and sufferers alike.
A bridge-builder
That spirit of collaboration was just lately spotlighted when CDA honored Alyssa Aberle, MBA, RDH, CDIPC, FADHA, with the Advocacy Collaboration Award for her work strengthening relationships between dentistry and dental hygiene in Colorado. The popularity represented greater than a person accomplishment; it symbolized a broader philosophy that oral well being care advances most successfully when professions work collectively slightly than in opposition to each other.
Aberle has turn out to be generally known as a bridge-builder inside organized oral well being care. Her advocacy displays an vital precept: collaboration doesn’t require full settlement. It requires a willingness to have interaction respectfully, keep dialogue, and prioritize affected person outcomes over skilled politics.
Increasing entry to care
Colorado’s cooperative tradition has additionally helped form one of many extra progressive oral health-care frameworks within the nation. Through the years, lawmakers {and professional} leaders have supported laws increasing entry to care whereas recognizing the training and experience of dental hygienists.
Colorado permits licensed dental hygienists to follow unsupervised dental hygiene throughout the scope of their training and coaching. Hygienists could present preventive providers, periodontal procedures, assessments, radiographs, and dental hygiene remedy planning with out dentist supervision. The state additionally permits dental hygienists to personal or function dental hygiene practices and collaborate with dentists when further care is required.
Expanded providers
Lately, Colorado additional expanded collaborative follow authority by permitting dental hygienists to prescribe and administer sure preventive brokers akin to fluoride varnish, silver diamine fluoride, nonsystemic antimicrobial brokers, nonnarcotic analgesics, and even antibiotics. Hygienists in Colorado can also administer native anesthesia with out supervision and place interim therapeutic restorations.
These legal guidelines didn’t emerge from professions working in isolation. They developed inside an surroundings the place organized dentistry and arranged dental hygiene had been prepared to speak and search sensible options collectively.
The consequence has been a extra versatile oral health-care supply mannequin that will increase entry for rural and underserved communities whereas preserving collaborative relationships between suppliers. Colorado’s framework acknowledges that increasing preventive care entry doesn’t diminish dentistry; it strengthens your complete oral health-care system. That distinction issues.
Collaborative strategy to workforce shortages
That very same collaborative mindset has additionally formed Colorado’s strategy to workforce shortages.
For greater than a decade, CDA and CODHA have been engaged in ongoing discussions about workforce sustainability and entry to care. In 2009, the College of Colorado Faculty of Dental Drugs closed its Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene program whereas concurrently rising enrollment for dental and internationally educated dentists. Skilled leaders instantly acknowledged the potential for workforce imbalance as Colorado started graduating considerably extra dentists than dental hygienists.
Reasonably than assigning blame or competing for affect, stakeholders labored collectively to establish long-term options. CDA and CODHA shaped process forces, researched potential places for future hygiene packages, and collaborated with educators, legislators, and group leaders to strengthen the state’s oral health-care workforce pipeline.
Measurable outcomes
These efforts have produced measurable outcomes. Between 2024 and 2025, three new dental hygiene packages opened in Colorado—none of them situated in Denver—serving to increase instructional entry into further areas of the state. On the similar time, two of Colorado’s current dental hygiene packages elevated their class sizes to assist deal with workforce calls for.
Because of these collaborative efforts, Colorado has almost tripled the variety of dental hygienists graduating throughout the state in simply the previous few years.
Equally vital, Colorado’s skilled organizations remained dedicated to sustaining instructional high quality whereas increasing workforce capability. CDA and CODHA labored collectively to help necessities that every one licensed dental professionals graduate from Fee on Dental Accreditation (CODA)-accredited packages, reinforcing a shared dedication to affected person security, skilled competency, and excessive requirements of care.
When skilled organizations function from a spot of opposition, progress usually stalls. Legislative efforts turn out to be combative. Clinicians turn out to be divided. College students coming into the workforce inherit distrust as an alternative of collaboration. Most significantly, sufferers lose alternatives for improved entry to care.
Colorado demonstrates one other risk.
When dentistry and dental hygiene organizations work collectively, everybody advantages. Dentists acquire stronger preventive partnerships and expanded entry pathways for sufferers. Hygienists acquire alternatives to follow extra absolutely inside their training and coaching. Sufferers profit from extra accessible, team-based care fashions that prioritize prevention and early intervention.
A robust message to future professionals
Colorado’s instance additionally sends a strong message to future professionals. New graduates be taught from the tradition modeled by organized management. In the event that they witness hostility between professions, they could come to view battle as inevitable. However once they see organizations participating respectfully—even amid disagreement—they be taught that advocacy and collaboration can coexist.
Which may be one in every of Colorado’s biggest achievements: proving that skilled collaboration just isn’t weak point. It’s management.
At a time when many states stay entrenched in scope battles {and professional} polarization, Colorado provides a compelling different. The partnership between CDA and CODHA exhibits that organized dentistry and arranged dental hygiene do not need to decide on between advancing their professions and supporting each other. The truth is, Colorado’s success suggests the alternative could also be true.
The strongest oral health-care techniques are sometimes constructed not by means of division, however by means of collaboration.
Additionally by the writer:
Editor’s be aware: This text first appeared in Scientific Insights e-newsletter, a publication of the Endeavor Enterprise Media Dental Group. Learn extra articles and subscribe.
