House Bill 2979: Addressing the Dental Workforce Crisis

On Monday, Feb. 13, the Oregon Legislature’s House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care heard testimony on ODA’s bill HB 2979, a $20 million dental workforce funding package. The bill aims to mitigate the dental assistant and hygienist shortage by providing flexible funding for dental hygiene and assisting programs at community colleges to expand capacity and support scholarships and recruitment, increasing funding for high school dental professions programs, providing new funding for dental career education for tribal youth, improving resources for ongoing chairside training, and more. You can find news coverage of the dental workforce initiative from KGW, Oregon Capital Chronicle, and the Portland Tribune.