Florida has a toothache. According to Rep. Linda Chaney, 65 of Florida’s 67 counties are designated dental provider shortage areas. The Health Resources and Services Administration estimates the state needs 1,256 additional dentists. Meanwhile, Florida continues to grow by roughly 750 residents a day, widening a disparity between skilled professionals and a needed service.

Chaney has filed House Bill 363 – Dental Therapy – multiple times in an attempt to address that gap. This session, the bill has cleared the House.

In a social media post Monday, Chaney said, “Florida is currently experiencing a dental crisis,” noting that 5.9 million Floridians live in 274 dental health professional shortage areas. She added that some counties, including Dixie and Gilchrist, have zero licensed dentists.

The numbers she cites are stark. In one year, she said, 3,000 Floridians were hospitalized for life-threatening dental infections and another 120,000 went to emergency rooms for teeth-related issues. Hospital costs for those preventable conditions reached roughly half a billion dollars, she wrote.

The proposal would create a new mid-level profession – dental therapists – trained to provide services between those of a dental hygienist and a dentist.

Under the bill, dental therapists would perform procedures such as sealants, fillings and simple extractions, but only under a collaborative management agreement with a supervising dentist. They would be required to graduate from accredited educational programs.

The most recent amendment to HB 363 was taken up in committee, adjusting language related to supervision requirements.

Fifteen states have already authorized dental therapy. In Alaska, Chaney said, emergency care dropped from being the primary form of dental treatment to less than 25% within six years of legalization. Studies in those states concluded that dental therapists do not provide inferior care.

Critics have argued that the training may not be sufficient for the procedures envisioned, insisting that the priority should be strengthening the existing dental team rather than creating a new job.

Still, the bill has advanced through the House. In a social media post, Chaney celebrated the bill’s hurdle over the House in the fashion and spirit of its own subject: “We will relieve pain and suffering.”