The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry honored its Dental Therapy Class of 2026 with a banquet on April 29, bringing together graduates, faculty, staff, and family members to mark the end of a 32-month program that has now produced fifteen graduating classes since it launched.
The eight graduates — Samrawi Aron, Stephanie Barrera, Abigail Ericksen, Amy Hisrich, Emma Louwagie, Ruwayda Malim, Barni Mohammed, and Reilly Wahlers — are entering a profession that remains limited to a handful of states but has steadily gained legislative ground.
What Dental Therapists Do
Dental therapists are mid-level oral health providers trained to perform a defined scope of clinical procedures — including preventive care, restorations, and extractions — typically in settings serving low-income, rural, or otherwise underserved populations. Minnesota was among the earliest states to authorize the profession and remains home to the longest-running dental therapy education program in the country.
The University of Minnesota's program sits within the Division of Dental Therapy led by Karl Self, DDS, MBA.
Voices from the Graduating Class
Class president Barni Mohammed delivered remarks that captured the mission-driven identity many dental therapy students bring to the program. "This is where we can practice both preventative and restorative work. In a little over a week we will complete our program as dental therapists, a rewarding profession that was formed to reduce the disparities our communities face and to increase access to care. We entered into this profession with the same passion and mission: to fight inequality in healthcare. We committed our years to care for those who are overlooked, to serve and also create a long-lasting positive impact on our patients. This is more than a profession. It is who we are as individuals."
Dean Keith Mays, DDS, MS, PhD, used the occasion to challenge graduates to carry the profession forward beyond clinical practice. "As you graduate, I'm challenging you to become advocates, faculty, teachers, lobbyists on behalf of oral health and dental therapy," he said. "Enjoy the journey, enjoy this moment. Relish it, celebrate it."
Alumni Network and Recognition
Jenna Johnson, MDT '16, representing the School of Dentistry Alumni Society, welcomed the new graduates and reminded them of the broader significance of the program they completed. "You are representatives of this groundbreaking program extending oral health to underserved populations," she said.
The 2026 Karl D. Self Dental Therapy Student Achievement Award — given annually to a senior dental therapy student in recognition of outstanding leadership, scholarship, and personal character — was presented to Emma Louwagie. The class also recognized Phonsuda Chanthavisouk, BSDH '20, MDT '21, a research assistant professor of dental therapy, with the faculty of the year award. In presenting it, Mohammed noted that Chanthavisouk had gone above and beyond in ensuring students felt supported and had opened their eyes to opportunities for dental care outside traditional clinical settings.
A Profession Still Finding Its Footing
Minnesota authorized dental therapy in 2009, and the University of Minnesota enrolled its first class shortly after. Since then, the profession has expanded to roughly a dozen states, with ongoing legislative activity in several others. Proponents argue that dental therapists offer a cost-effective mechanism for extending care to populations that have historically fallen outside the reach of the traditional dental delivery system. Organized dentistry has, in many states, contested the scope of practice and supervision requirements that govern the profession.
The Class of 2026 enters that landscape as its fifteenth cohort of graduates — small in number, but part of an accumulating body of practitioners whose outcomes researchers and policymakers are increasingly tracking.
Self closed the evening by invoking the structure of the hero's journey, encouraging graduates to see the work ahead not as a conclusion but as a beginning. "Today is not the end of your journey, but the beginning of a new one," he said. "There will be new challenges, new calls to adventure, new trials, moments that stretch and try you. Throughout it all, practice dentistry with excellence and joy. Serve your communities like the heroes you have become."