We are your denturist public awareness web site; sponsored by the American Denturist Advocacy Council. We hope the following, aids you in understanding what a denturist is and how they, the denturists, can improve the current denture health care system.

A DENTURIST, according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, is "a dental technician who makes, fits and repairs dentures directly for the public."

That is just what denturists are; technicians who have expanded their education and experience to become specialized public denture practitioners. Dentists, however, are middlemen who do not make dentures, but order them from dental laboratories, where skilled dental technicians construct them.

We should all praise dentists for their remarkable progress in preventative dentistry. All of their hounding us to floss our teeth is working and their advances in alleviating pain during treatment is nothing short of miraculous. Those of you who remember what it used to be like to go to the dentist can attest to that. But the situation is different with regard to dentures. Currently the patient is not seen by the person who arranges the teeth unless the dentist takes a photograph and sends it to the laboratory along with the impressions. However, only a few dentists take pictures and those should be commended for trying to get around this failed system.

Dentists base their fees on the cost of running their entire practice. A denturist, on the other hand, doesn't have anywhere near the overhead expenses of a dentist and, therefore, can provide the public with dentures at half the cost (1991 study by the state of Oregon).

Under the requirements of state law (formulated by dentists), denturists, besides the learning of taking of impressions and the registration of a bite, must complete a curriculum of study which would be equal to the denture-related curriculum of study of a dentist. This includes courses in physiology, microbiology, histology, embryology, pathology, psychology, radiology, pharmacology, asepsis, sociology and jurisprudence... Adding that a denturist's training in the actual construction of a denture exceeds the training of a dentist, one can see that denturists would be more qualified than dentists to make dentures for the public. Since denturists would be more qualified than dentists to make dentures for the public, why does the state law prohibit the practice of denturitry? Why would we need a highly trained individual to directly supervise another individual who is even more highly trained? Does the law seek to prevent denturists from delivering on the promises of independent denturitry? Is it any wonder why denture wearers do not have access to the services of a denturist under the existing law?

Not all dentists are opposed to independent denturitry (a profession that has delivered on those promises for fifty years in Canada, New Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Holland and Australia, and 15- 20 years in several States in the US), although your state dental association would like you to think they are. Each individual dentist has a mind of his own and we urge you to question your dentist about it during your next visit; to find out what he or she really thinks.

If you agree that citizens should have access to denture services that are better, faster and less expensive by half, tell your friends and contact your legislators. Urge them to produce legislation that would create independent denturitry.