Winter 2026 Newsletter

January 25, 2026

Your Alaska Dental Hygienists’ Association has been busy and I wanted to provide you with a member update. (This is long, but trust me, it’s important!)

Postcard & Survey - TIME SENSITIVE 

AKDHA is calling on every Alaska dental hygienist to watch for a PURPLE POSTCARD in your mailbox! Please take just 5 minutes to complete the survey as SOON as you receive it. Your anonymous responses will have a lasting impact on how AKDHA advocates on your behalf.

You’ll also have the option to support legislative efforts by donating —100% of donations go directly toward funding our lobbyist, Yuri Morgan. Your voice today will guide the future of dental hygiene in Alaska! We have a goal of raising $2,000 this winter.  If 100 hygienists donate $20, we’ll meet our goal!

Legislative Update:

The Alaska Legislature convened on January 20th! This session, Yuri Morgan will aid us with monitoring bills, general strategy, communication, etc.  He is a huge asset to our organization and will step in to help if we need to address a major legislative issue.  Yuri has worked with us in the past and we are thankful for his expertise!

We have three main legislative goals this session:

1. House Bill 197 (HB 197). You can view information about HB 197 here at akleg.gov. As written, HB 197 removes language that supports current dental hygiene educational standards.  At the September 26, 2025 special meeting of the Alaska Board of Dental Examiners (BoDE), AKDHA requested that the BoDE support an amendment to change the language to “two years or equivalent” and provided supporting information.  The BoDE voted unanimously to approve our request.  We will be working with Representative Frank Tomaszewski’s office to make sure that the BoDE approved language is incorporated into HB 197.  

2. Making sure the public has registered dental hygienists scaling their teeth.  Over 22 states have introduced legislation proposed by the American Dental Association allowing Oral Preventative Assistants (OPA) to probe and scale supragingivally on “healthy” patients.  You can read more here: https://www.adha.org/advocacy/opa/

The AKDHA will be engaged this session and if legislation is introduced that would allow OPA’s to work in Alaska, we will need your support and involvement to oppose such legislation.  Communicating with your legislators and sharing information will be crucial.

3. Professional Self Regulation 

The ADHA supports a separate Dental Hygiene Board at the state level.  California has enacted a completely autonomous Dental Hygiene Board to regulate dental hygiene licenses, and other states are looking in that direction.  Is this something we want to pursue in Alaska? 

The current Alaska Board of Dental Examiners (BoDE) consists of 6 dentists, 2 hygienists, and 1 public member. The public member position has been vacant for almost a year and the board Chair, Dr Woller, resigned at the end of 2025.  The board has been struggling to meet its obligations; several meetings have been canceled due to a lack of quorum and most of their meetings have been “special.”  At the recent January 23, 2026 meeting, a RDH was elected to be Chair of the BoDE–congrats to Christina Hansen, RDH!  She is the first dental hygienist to be elected Chair of the BoDE in Alaska.  We hope that Christina will bring a strong voice and new leadership that is desperately needed.  

The AKDHA will be providing member updates via email and our website (alaskadha.org). Another way to have quick access to current information is to find us on social media (Instagram & Facebook).  Look for the QR Codes on the purple postcard we sent!

Spring CE and Business Meeting

All members are encouraged to attend our Spring 2026 CE and Business Meeting on Saturday, March 21st.  Online and in-person options are available.  Join us for relevant, engaging continuing education with Tricia Osuna, BSDH, RDH, FAADH.  Go to our website: https://www.alaskadha.org/events for more information and to register.  If you know you’ll be attending, please register as early as possible—this helps our CE Committee get an accurate estimate of the numbers for lunch, supplies, etc.  If you would like to attend the business meeting online, but will not be paying for the continuing education classes, email the CE Committee at akdhace2021@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

Thank you for being a member of the AKDHA!

Lisa Wells, President

Alaska Dental Hygienists’ Association