Increased flexibility with dental licensure could bring about a new challenge with workforce shortages.
Conversations around interstate and universal licensure have grown in popularity as more states join the dentist and dental hygienist interstate compact.
The interstate compact increases license portability across member states for dentists and hygienists, removing the need for dental professionals to gain a license in each individual state. The compact was activated in April after Maine joined as the seventh state. Since then, three other states have joined.
Nabil Fehmi, DDS, the founder and chief clinical officer of Westwind Integrated Health in Phoenix, told Becker's he supports universal licensure because of the freedom it gives dental practitioners.
"Universal licensure allows dentists the freedom to practice across state lines without the hassle of obtaining multiple state-specific licenses," he said. "This flexibility is especially beneficial for those looking to relocate for personal reasons or to pursue new job opportunities, or to serve in communities that are desperately in need of dental professionals."
However, Mahtab Sadrameli, DMD, of Smiles of Naperville (Ill.), recently told Becker's that universal licensure could make hiring more difficult in states that end up losing practitioners to other states.
"When I first became a dentist, we had to take boards in order to be certified in a particular state, so I had to take five different boards in order to be able to practice where I wanted to practice as I was moving a little bit when I first graduated. At the time, I was hoping there would be just a universal board where I could essentially go anywhere I wanted," she said. "As a business owner all these years later, my mindset has changed because now it's definitely affecting the talent pool out there because more people are moving across the state lines in order to have a change of lifestyle. So it is making it a little bit harder to find the right talent for the office, especially in the market where the talent pool has been diminished."