What Is a Dental Therapist? Dental Therapist Career Guide

A dental therapist is a licensed midlevel dental provider: trained in preventive care much like a dental hygienist, and additionally trained and authorized to do defined restorative work — preparing and placing fillings, fitting preformed crowns, extracting selected teeth.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps no occupation code for the role and reports no dental therapist pay in its wage data; the agency describes dental therapists only as hygienists with additional training, and only in "a few states".

What makes the role "midlevel" is that it does not float free.

The statutes this guide verified tie dental therapy to a dentist, and the states that spell the mechanism out require it in writing: a collaborative management agreement in Minnesota, a written practice agreement in Maine, a collaborative practice agreement in Vermont, Connecticut and Arizona, a written practice plan contract in Washington.

The dentist signs the agreement and supervises within the levels the state sets; Connecticut's law goes further, making the collaborating dentist professionally responsible and legally liable for the therapist's authorized services.

Dental therapists are licensed and regulated like the professions around them.

The Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners, for instance, can license and discipline only dentists, dental hygienists, dental therapists and expanded function dental assistants — four distinct professions.

Vermont's Board of Dental Examiners licenses dental therapists directly, the Oregon Board of Dentistry licenses them alongside dentists and hygienists, and Wisconsin credentials them through its Department of Safety and Professional Services under the Dentistry Examining Board.

The clearest statutory picture of the restorative work is Colorado's.

Since January 1, 2023, Colorado's dental practice act has let a dental therapist prepare and place direct restorations, place temporary and preformed crowns, and extract erupted primary teeth and periodontally diseased permanent teeth with +3 to +4 mobility — all under a dentist's direct supervision.

Maine's law similarly authorizes simple cavity preparations and restorations and simple extractions, performed in limited practice settings under a written practice agreement and a Maine-licensed dentist's general supervision.

On top of that restorative set sits the hygiene work.

The duties the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists for dental hygienists are removing tartar, stains and plaque; applying sealants and fluorides; taking and developing x-rays; assessing oral health and reporting findings to dentists; documenting patient care; and educating patients.

A dental therapy appointment is therefore a blend — hygiene care plus the procedures the state and the supervising dentist have authorized for that visit.

Authority over medication is narrow.

Minnesota prohibits dental therapists from dispensing or administering narcotic drugs, and Arizona adds that its therapists may not dispense or administer narcotics and may not independently bill any individual or third-party payor.

The allowances that do exist stay inside the dentist relationship: a Minnesota advanced dental therapist may provide, dispense and administer analgesics, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics within the collaborative agreement and with the dentist's authorization, Colorado therapists may dispense and administer nonnarcotic analgesics, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics under a written articulated plan and may give local anesthesia, and Washington — whose law states a dental therapist does not have the authority to prescribe drugs — still allows dispensing or oral administration of nonnarcotic analgesics, anti-inflammatories, preventive agents and antibiotics within the practice plan contract.

Two more limits recur.

Sedation is off the table where the rules speak: Minnesota's administrative rule bars dental therapists — alongside hygienists and licensed dental assistants — from administering general anesthesia or deep, moderate or minimal sedation, and Idaho's rules bar its therapists from sedation as well as periodontal scaling and root planing and most extractions.

And the team a therapist can run is capped: Maine lets a dentist delegate supervision of up to two dental hygienists and three unlicensed persons per practice setting to a dental therapist through the written practice agreement, Michigan caps a therapist at supervising three dental assistants and two dental hygienists in any one practice setting, and Washington caps the total at three.

There is no national dental therapy license.

The role exists where a state has written it into law, and the shape differs by state.

The statutes verified for this guide cover eleven states — Minnesota, Maine, Vermont, Arizona, Michigan, Connecticut, Nevada, Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — plus Alaska's federally run tribal program and Idaho's board rules.

A 2024 count published by the National Partnership for Dental Therapy put the number of states recognizing dental therapy at about fourteen.

The list keeps moving, so treat any count — including that one — as a snapshot, and confirm your state with its board of dentistry.

Two corrections to older maps you may run into.

Wisconsin enacted dental therapy in 2023 (Wisconsin Act 87 of 2023), so lists written before then miss it.

And Washington is no longer tribal-only: since 2023, RCW chapter 18.265 has licensed dental therapists to work statewide — but only in federally qualified health centers, tribal FQHCs and FQHC look-alikes — while tribal dental health aide therapists continue separately under RCW 70.350 in Indian health program settings within reservation boundaries.

ADHA's February 2024 brief, a citation you will see often, listed Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont plus tribal lands in Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Washington; the New Mexico and Montana entries were not confirmed against statutes in this guide's research.

What each verified state's law actually provides:

State	What the law provides
Minnesota	Licensed since 2009, practicing since 2011. Must primarily practice in settings serving low-income, uninsured and underserved patients or in a dental health professional shortage area; signs a collaborative management agreement with a Minnesota-licensed dentist before providing services, and a dentist may hold agreements with no more than five dental therapists or advanced dental therapists at once.
Maine	Title built on a Maine dental hygienist license. Performs listed procedures — simple cavity preparations and restorations, simple extractions — in limited practice settings under a written practice agreement and general supervision.
Vermont	Works under a dentist's general supervision within a collaborative agreement, which must be reviewed, updated and submitted to the Board annually and whenever it changes.
Arizona	Restricted to settings such as FQHCs and look-alikes, community health centers, nonprofit practices serving low-income patients, and private practices treating referred community-health-center patients. 1,000 hours under a dentist's direct supervision before a written collaborative practice agreement; a dentist may hold no more than four.
Michigan	Provides listed services under a dentist's supervision; may not supervise more than three dental assistants and two dental hygienists in any one practice setting (2018 PA 463, effective March 27, 2019).
Connecticut	Must be a licensed dental hygienist; practice limited to public health facilities under a dentist's general supervision. A dentist may hold collaborative agreements with no more than two dental therapists at once and is professionally responsible and legally liable for their authorized services.
Nevada	Practice limited to listed settings — hospitals, rural health clinics and FQHC-type facilities among them — under a written practice agreement with an authorizing dentist; direct supervision until 500, 1,000 or 1,500 clinical hours, depending on prior licensure and hygiene experience.
Wisconsin	Wisconsin Act 87 of 2023: general supervision only after at least 2,000 hours under direct or indirect supervision; must practice in a dental health shortage area or where at least 50 percent of the patient base is Medical Assistance, uninsured or other listed patients; a dentist may hold agreements with no more than four dental therapists.
Colorado	Restorations, preformed crowns and specified extractions under direct supervision, moving to indirect supervision for restorations and extractions after 1,000 hours (the board may waive up to 600 for prior practice), under a written articulated plan.
Oregon	The Board of Dentistry issues dental therapy licenses (ORS 679.603, 2021 c.530) to applicants who complete a dental therapy education program, including CODA-accredited programs in other states.
Washington	Statewide licensing limited to FQHCs, tribal FQHCs and FQHC look-alikes; practice only under a written practice plan contract with a supervising dentist — not independently — and never in a setting outside those.
Alaska (federal)	The Indian Health Service's Community Health Aide Program trains and certifies dental health aide therapists (DHATs) for Alaska Native villages; DHATs may do pulpal therapy (other than pulpotomies on baby teeth) or extract adult teeth only after consulting a licensed dentist, and are barred from other oral surgery — uncomplicated extractions do not count as oral surgery.
Idaho	Board rules (IDAPA 24.31.01) authorize dental therapists to perform activities specified by a supervising dentist practicing in the same setting, under a written collaborative practice agreement.

Where it has not passed: Florida's 2026 bill (CS/HB 363) died in the Senate Rules Committee on March 13, 2026, and New York's Assembly Bill A5928 — which would license dental therapists and advanced dental therapists — was amended and recommitted to the Assembly Higher Education Committee on May 26, 2026 and had not passed as of this guide's last check.

The statutes themselves identify the employers, because most of them name the settings therapy may happen in.

The settings named include federally qualified health centers and their look-alikes (Arizona, Washington), community health centers and nonprofit practices serving low-income patients (Arizona), public health facilities (Connecticut), hospitals and rural health clinics among Nevada's listed settings, and — in Minnesota and Wisconsin — any practice whose patient base is largely low-income, uninsured or Medical Assistance, or that sits in a dental health professional shortage area.

Private practices do employ dental therapists — in Minnesota's 2019 survey, about half (53%) of therapists reported private practice settings — but where a state limits settings, private practice is allowed only inside them: Arizona permits private practices treating referred community-health-center patients, and Minnesota permits private settings that primarily serve the populations its statute names.

Minnesota, where therapists have practiced since 2011, shows what the mix looks like in practice.

In the state health department's 2019 survey (58 responses), dental therapists reported working in community and faith-based organizations (25%), solo private practice (25%), small group practice (16%), community health centers and FQHCs (14%), and large group practice (12%).

The licensed workforce is small: Minnesota reported 92 actively licensed dental therapists, advanced dental therapists included, as of December 2018 — the latest figure in the department's published dental therapist workforce reports.

Tribal health employers are a distinct track.

In Alaska, the Indian Health Service's Community Health Aide Program trains and certifies dental health aide therapists for Alaska Native villages, and Washington's tribally or federally certified DHATs work in Indian health program settings within reservation boundaries for patients eligible for Indian Health Service care, exempt from state dental licensing.

The federal statute that runs the program also constrains expansion: a national rollout of the Community Health Aide Program outside Alaska must exclude dental health aide therapist services, except where a tribe or tribal organization elects otherwise.

If you are reading this as a practice owner or clinic director, the employer-side guide to hiring a dental therapist covers the settings question, credential checks and the supervision agreements each statute requires.

Three layers, one team.

The hygiene layer is preventive: the duties the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists for dental hygienists are removing tartar, stains and plaque; applying sealants and fluorides; taking and developing x-rays; assessing oral health and reporting findings to dentists; documenting care; and educating patients.

The therapy layer adds the defined restorative set — preparing and placing restorations, preformed crowns, and the extractions the state names.

The dentist layer supplies the legal anchor: the agreement is signed with a dentist, supervision levels are set relative to a dentist, and Connecticut's law makes the collaborating dentist professionally responsible and legally liable for the therapist's authorized services.

The therapist's restorative list is the defined subset a state has written into law — not a second dentist.

In Maine and Connecticut the ladder is written directly into the title definitions: Maine's dental therapist is a person who holds a Maine dental hygienist license with additional dental therapy authorization, and Connecticut's dental therapist must be a licensed dental hygienist.

Minnesota adds a tier above: the advanced dental therapist, a master's-level credential.

For the full side-by-side — scope, training, licensure, pay context — see our dental hygienist vs dental therapist comparison; this hub stays at summary level.

The education standard runs through one national accreditor; the license is state.

The Commission on Dental Accreditation adopted its Accreditation Standards for Dental Therapy Education Programs on February 6, 2015.

They require a curriculum of at least three academic years of full-time instruction or its equivalent at the postsecondary college level, and they let programs grant credit for prior coursework — no specific academic degree is named, per the ADHA's summary of the standards, so programs can sit at different credential levels.

Licensing examples: Arizona requires graduation from a dental therapy program accredited (or initially accredited) by the ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation; Oregon's Board of Dentistry issues dental therapy licenses to applicants who complete a dental therapy education program, including CODA-accredited programs in other states; Washington licenses graduates of CODA-accredited programs, with a limited route — 400 preceptorship hours — for those who finished a substantially equivalent non-accredited program before September 30, 2022.

Once licensed, the supervised-hours ladders differ by state: 1,000 hours under a dentist's direct supervision before a collaborative practice agreement in Arizona; direct supervision until 500, 1,000 or 1,500 clinical hours in Nevada, depending on prior licensure and hygiene experience; at least 2,000 hours before general supervision in Wisconsin; 1,000 hours before indirect supervision in Colorado, with up to 600 waivable for prior practice.

The hygiene entry route is real, not theoretical.

Maine's and Connecticut's title definitions are built on a dental hygienist license, and in Minnesota 42% of dental therapists reported being dually licensed as hygienists.

The top Minnesota tier — advanced dental therapist — requires a licensed dental therapist to complete 2,000 hours of dental therapy clinical practice under direct or indirect supervision, graduate from a master's advanced dental therapy program and pass a board exam; 70% of dental therapists licensed in 2018 were advanced dental therapists.

How many dental therapy programs exist?

This guide's research could not verify a current count.

If you are evaluating programs, the authoritative list is CODA's own — and the floor you can hold any program to is the standard above: three academic years, full-time equivalent.

For the full route — prerequisites, curriculum areas, licensure steps — see our hygienist to dental therapist path guide.

Start with the data vacuum, because it explains every salary number you will meet: BLS has no occupation code for dental therapists and reports no dental therapist pay in its OEWS wage data, so there is no national median to cite.

Any national dental therapist salary figure you encounter online is therefore not a BLS measurement — our research found no measured national series for the role.

The one sourced figure this guide found is a survey of Minnesota dental therapists and advanced dental therapists published in the Journal of the American Dental Association in 2021 (53.1% response rate), which found a median annual income in the $81,000 to $90,000 bracket.

Read its limits: Minnesota-only, both tiers pooled, and a bracket rather than a precise median.

For rhythm of work, the state health department's 2019 survey found 95% of Minnesota dental therapists working full time, averaging 36 hours a week.

The nearest measured benchmark is dental hygiene: BLS's May 2025 OEWS puts the national median annual wage for dental hygienists at $98,100.

That is a different survey, a different occupation and a national geography — not a like-for-like comparison with a Minnesota therapy bracket — but it is the measured series sitting closest to therapy work.

See the dental hygienist salary page for the full percentiles and state breakdowns.

Practically, judge a dental therapy offer on three things you can verify: the local hygiene market around the practice, the setting's payer mix, and the state's supervision caps — Minnesota's five-therapist limit per dentist, Connecticut's two, Arizona's and Wisconsin's four — which bound how many therapy positions a single practice can support.

Beyond the bracket above, this page publishes no dollar figures, because none are sourced.

Start the search where the statutes are, because therapy is lawful only in the states that authorize it: the eleven statute states above, tribal programs in Alaska and Washington, and FQHC-type employers in the states that restrict therapy to community settings.

Titles to search: "dental therapist", "advanced dental therapist" (the Minnesota tier), and "dental health aide therapist" on tribal programs.

DentistryHires does not run a separate dental therapist job category (checked October 22, 2026); the closest search on our board is the dental hygienist job search, so start there.

Browse dental hygienist & therapist jobs and filter by the states above — licensing is state-specific, so the useful listings are in the state where you hold, or are completing, the license.

Whichever setting a posting describes, map it against the statutory settings list for that state before you apply: an Arizona posting outside the FQHC and nonprofit settings the state names, for example, would not fit Arizona's practice-setting law, which limits therapy to the kinds of settings it lists.