Question for seasoned oregon denturists

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Acrylicwookie

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Thanks for the info, I had never heard that.. seems to contradict the point, but not necessarily a bad idea. What is the incentive to the denturist? Youre basically an employee of the dentist.
Yep. Useless - in most cases. Just as there are ****ty dentists, I'm sure there are ****ty denturists. But that is why we have state boards to investigate complaints and weed out those who really don't know what they are doing. Arizona's supervision laws are the result of some very powerful ADA lobbyists. Giving denturists something without really giving them something. My sister was a senator in AZ and did some poking around about changing it and said it just aint happening. I think the future of any new state getting real denturism will need to look like Oregon's path - a citizen led initiative demanding a separate state board. Otherwise, leaving it to the state dental board will always look just like Arizona - dentist overreach. The state dental boards will always have more dentist ratio to "others" on their boards to keep control of what happens. And according to them, denturists are a danger to the public :rolleyes:
 
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I have followed this thread with great interest. It is sad the state of denturism in the US except a limited few as noted. After my twenty years in the Canadian Military, I "retired" to a Faculty of Dentistry as supervisor of the removable pros. lab with an associate professors teaching load academically. Removable was being cut back at that time 2002 to make room for aesthetic dentistry. I then went to a college where the was a Denturists program I brought with me RPD training and eventually dentures over implants - I worked with endosseous implants when they were first introduced and did some of the first cases in the early 80s.
Bottom line in Canada the best denturists are better at dentures than the average general dentist. If you need a denture in Canada your better off to see a Denturist period. I have taught in both environments and feel comfortable making that assertion. Dentists in some of the states were successful on limiting the ability of denturists to be educated and licensed to the detriment of the general public.
 
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Denture Dude

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Ya. The 1000 hrs should have to be under the supervision of someone other than ‘mom’ or ‘dad’. I’m also starting to notice a lot of the successful labs are handed down from mommy or daddy. I worked hard for years only to have to lab sold to the son, who never came into the lab previously. But I digress. :).
 
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The only person that should be judging their new teeth is the patient, if they have an issue they can always get a 2nd opinion. It seems like if there was some transparency and people could have a legitimate system to rank their experience, like a yelp review but a mandated part of having the license, the cream will rise to the top, and the rest will be out of business.. If this really is about quality, patients rights and affordable care.
 
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The only person that should be judging their new teeth is the patient, if they have an issue they can always get a 2nd opinion. It seems like if there was some transparency and people could have a legitimate system to rank their experience, like a yelp review but a mandated part of having the license, the cream will rise to the top, and the rest will be out of business.. If this really is about quality, patients rights and affordable care.
Unfortunately edentulousness is a progressively debilitating condition. Once the teeth are lost you will never be well again unless implants are placed. A dentist cannot cure an edentulous patient, there is little joy managing patients to the dental cripple stage of their condition.
The patient will likely never be happy just because of the nature of their condition. So patients are a poor judge of their care. A well structured, well regulated, professional body is required to ensure patients a being treated properly. Dentists in Canada do not want to treat edentulous patients unless they are willing to go the implant route. Conventional care has been regulated to the Denturist.
 
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I totally agree that the edentulous patient is the biggest critic of the piece of acrylic replacing their teeth. Most have no idea what they are in for or what difference quality makes in their decision. People rely on sites like trustpilot for reviews from the general public.. I dont see why it cant be done in a specific, anonymous way, where certain criteria are measured from the patients perspective.. it will still show the clinics that are better at addressing patient concerns, or esthetics, or value for money or all the variables.
Patients leave reviews on google about their experience with dentists, nobody has a 5/5 rating, but its a basis for evaluating professional care.. a state dental board is only going after malpractice (as defined as gross negligence) not necessarily bad business practice or quality outcomes.
 
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The problem is everyone in a particular locale in the professions knows who the poor practitioners are. One of my functions at the University was to deal with College complaint resolution cases. I have had to redo some horrendous screw-ups to protect the profession from malpractice suits. We were generally successful in resolving the patients complaint. There is a place for an online review site but it must be backed up with good regulation and a strong disciplinary body. Patients do know when it is not right but they have little understanding of how to make it better.
 
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Id kill for supervised denturism in FL
 
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Id kill for supervised denturism in FL
Me too! Lol. I've been wanting to move there for a while but from what I've seen of your dental association, they have a very strong grip on the legislature. I cannot even own my own removable lab there because I have a LD credential instead of a CDT and they apparently don't recognize denturism. I am also a dental hygienist but Florida wants me to retake a licensure exam ON A DUMMY, even though I have taken 2 regional clinical exams (on real patients) and aced them. And, one of those testing agencies was/is one of the testing companies I tested through..they just renamed the test and allowed the use of a fake head but Florida still has zero reciprocity. There is 1 state in the country I cannot practice and it is Florida...very frustrating.
 
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How many licensed denturists in AZ? Anyone know? Just curious how many Drs are even employing denturists.. Its one thing to get your denturist license, but then you have to find a job at a dental office, which means another op. A dedicated removable chair sounds feasible in retirement alley. However, the office would have to have a decent size lab to be able to have a denturist work there also.. This is very limiting to where you can actually practice denturism, only offices that have space for an in-house lab, and room for an associate or 2. A DDS associate will generate far more revenue than a denturist will...
 
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Me too! Lol. I've been wanting to move there for a while but from what I've seen of your dental association, they have a very strong grip on the legislature. I cannot even own my own removable lab there because I have a LD credential instead of a CDT and they apparently don't recognize denturism. I am also a dental hygienist but Florida wants me to retake a licensure exam ON A DUMMY, even though I have taken 2 regional clinical exams (on real patients) and aced them. And, one of those testing agencies was/is one of the testing companies I tested through..they just renamed the test and allowed the use of a fake head but Florida still has zero reciprocity. There is 1 state in the country I cannot practice and it is Florida...very frustrating.
... Just take the board then... Florida is retirement central, it would really hurt the dental ecosystem to allow reciprocity.
 
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How many licensed denturists in AZ? Anyone know? Just curious how many Drs are even employing denturists.. Its one thing to get your denturist license, but then you have to find a job at a dental office, which means another op. A dedicated removable chair sounds feasible in retirement alley. However, the office would have to have a decent size lab to be able to have a denturist work there also.. This is very limiting to where you can actually practice denturism, only offices that have space for an in-house lab, and room for an associate or 2. A DDS associate will generate far more revenue than a denturist will...
Do the well to do denturists even do their own labwork? Seems smarter to get 3-5+ more impressions then to set their own teeth. The part that really sets a good denture apart is the quality impression and records.
 
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When I meet a well to do denturist I'll let you know..
 
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I've been an denturist in Oregon for 6 years...from what I have seen there are a lot of "keep it in the family" operations going on around in the state. Parents training their kids and passing the torch. There are 2 pathways - Pathway 1) the official denture school route which is 60K+ or Pathway 2) 1000 supervised internship after your college work is complete. The first route is ~60k and I don't think it is covered by regular student loan type programs but I may be wrong and the 2nd route is pretty hard to find a denturist to take you under his/her wing to do the internship because they would essentially be introducing competition to their area. And, even if you've got 20 years experience in the lab doing removables, your 1000 hours do not count or start until you are officially supervised by someone that is approved by the state. I don't see it getting too saturated because of how difficult it is to get your foot in the door but right now the lower populated areas are pretty saturated with denturists. For instance, we are planning on moving to Coos Bay to open shop there and there are already 2 denture offices in a town with a population of only 20k ish. It's that way all up and down the coast. So it kinda depends on where you are going to live and open shop. Big cities along I5 are probably ok but the smaller communities already have denturists with a patient base you'd have to break through to. I'm very rarely on this site but feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions. Hopefully it will alert me on my email so I will see it.
Thanks for the info !
 
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Do the well to do denturists even do their own labwork? Seems smarter to get 3-5+ more impressions then to set their own teeth. The part that really sets a good denture apart is the quality impression and records.
In Canada Denturists usually start out doing their own lab work but over time the profession here has progressed to the poly clinic with a couple of Dental Assistants for reception and operatory cleaning and prep. Dental Technicians (RDT) and dental lab assistants (RDLA) are often hired to to the lab work with most of the time for the Denturist spent in the operatory doing clinical work. In some provinces Denturists have the right to order (prescribe) partials and full arch implant frames from commercial labs. Everything "denture" is very well integrated.
 
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In Canada Denturists usually start out doing their own lab work but over time the profession here has progressed to the poly clinic with a couple of Dental Assistants for reception and operatory cleaning and prep. Dental Technicians (RDT) and dental lab assistants (RDLA) are often hired to to the lab work with most of the time for the Denturist spent in the operatory doing clinical work. In some provinces Denturists have the right to order (prescribe) partials and full arch implant frames from commercial labs. Everything "denture" is very well integrated.
That's probably how it should be. I imagine a denturist being like a dental hygienist would be very effective in a dentists office providing care and being checked in on by the dentist. I cannot understand why it wouldn't be done everywhere like this.
 
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That's probably how it should be. I imagine a denturist being like a dental hygienist would be very effective in a dentists office providing care and being checked in on by the dentist. I cannot understand why it wouldn't be done everywhere like this.
Not so much "checked in on" but more collaborating with. There are a number of dental poly practices that include Denturists in the mix.
 
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Just found these if anyone is interested, I looked into the school a few years ago to see how much it was and some of the details.
Total tuition is $34k for a 1 year program in Oregon.
 

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Denture Dude

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Just found these if anyone is interested, I looked into the school a few years ago to see how much it was and some of the details.
Total tuition is $34k for a 1 year program in Oregon.
This school wants over 40k$ for the course now. Im just confused as to how they get students in the door at that price. I see no clear path to employment etc. I’m guessing that their new accreditation means student loans are on the table 😂. Holy moly. My situation would lend itself perfectly to this. I work in a well equipped in house lab w plenty of chair space to add a denturist. The docs do nothing but complain about having to do dentures anyhow. Im just looking for a way to future proof my lab career.
 
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This school wants over 40k$ for the course now. Im just confused as to how they get students in the door at that price. I see no clear path to employment etc. I’m guessing that their new accreditation means student loans are on the table 😂. Holy moly. My situation would lend itself perfectly to this. I work in a well equipped in house lab w plenty of chair space to add a denturist. The docs do nothing but complain about having to do dentures anyhow. Im just looking for a way to future proof my lab career.
Maybe your Doc's would pay the tuition and then they wouldn't have to do dentures.
 
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