In Alaska, reaching into remote corners to provide dental care

摘要

Aniak, Alaska, is a Yu'pik village of 500 people on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, about 400 miles northwest of Anchorage. It is in this special and isolated community where I practice as a dental therapist, trained and certified to deliver some, but not all, types of dental care. Dental therapists have been practicing in Alaska for nine years and now provide routine dental care to 40,000 Native Alaskans.