Important Message from the CT Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) Please note that this is required for PUBLIC HEALTH REGISTERED DENTAL HYGIENISTS who treat children but all may benefit from seeing the form and the information. Please be advised effective March 1, 2023, Public Health Registered Dental Hygienists who conduct Caries Risk Assessments in public health settings should use the updated CT Dental Health Partnership (CTDHP) Caries Risk Assessment Tool (CRAT) and the CTDHP Parent/Guardian Report form. The updated CRAT has been updated based on feedback from the Registered Dental Hygienist community and can be found at CTDHP. One new question has been added to the tool for subsequent assessments to determine if there are new areas of tooth enamel demineralization since the last assessment. All Public Health Registered Dental Hygienists are required to complete a web-based training on the updated tool. The Connecticut Oral Health Screening Assessment Tool Training is accessible from Department of Social Services’ LearnCenter. If you have previously taken trainings via the DSSLearn Center and have an assigned username and password, please access the training HERE. If you have forgotten your username and password, please follow the steps to reset your account via the DSS LearnCenter. Please select “Forgot your username/password? Click Here” and follow the prompts. Once you have entered the DSS LearnCenter landing page you may locate the training by using the search bar in the upper right-hand corner of the page or search under OSD Catalog for the title “CT Oral Health Screening Assessment Tool Training”. If you are new to conducting the CRAT, haven’t taken trainings via the DSSLearn Center, or have not been assigned a username or password, please email training@ctdhp.com to request the training assignment. Please provide your NPI, verify the setting in which you will be conducting assessing HUSKY Health members and using the CRAT, and length of time working as a Registered Dental Hygienist in the email. You will receive an email with your username, temporary password, and instructions on how to access the training within 5 business days of your request from CTDHP staff. Providers may refer to Provider Bulletin PB14-71 effective October 1, 2014, the D0120 Periodic Oral Examination code will no longer be available for use by Public Health Dental Hygienists for children under the age of 21. In lieu of the D0120 code, the following codes will be used: D0601 Caries Risk Assessment, Low Risk; D0602 Caries Risk Assessment, Moderate Risk; and D0603 Caries Risk Assessment, High Risk. For training information, please contact the CTDHP Member Service Call Center at 1-855-CTDENTAL (1-855-283-3682) or email training@ctdhp.com. For policy related information, please contact Department of Social Services, Division of Health Services, Integrated Care, Dental Unit, Donna Balaski, D.M.D. at (860) 424–5342 or donna.balaski@ct.gov.
Legislative Committee News concerning:
COVID Vaccine Administration
To our dental hygiene colleagues who have been vaccinating:
Please note:
As of April 15th, 2022
Dental hygienists are no longer permitted to vaccinate in CT.
Vaccination by dental hygienists was allowed under a Commissioner order under Connecticut Stat. § 19a-131f which is effective only when there is a Governor’s public health emergency declaration. The General Assembly in Special Act 22-1, section 2 extended the commissioner’s authority under the statute until April 15th. With its expiration, the only law authorizing alternative vaccinators is the PREP Act.
Despite our national American Dental Hygienists’ Association’s advocacy efforts, dental hygienists were not included in the federal PREP Act as COVID-19 vaccine administrators. Therefore, dental hygienists can no longer administer vaccinations.
Thank you to all of you who learned and performed this much needed skill during the pandemic! We can only hope that we are not needed in this capacity again.
Regards,
Marie Paulis, RDH, MSDH
Legislative Chair, CDHA