Underserved patients in Maine have reason to smile. Gov. Paul LePage (R) signed legislation allowing for mid-level dental providers. Maine could use the extra help, because, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, more than 180,000 of the state’s residents experience difficulty accessing care due to a shortage
of oral health professionals. In addition, Pew notes that 62% of Maine’s low-income children had no access to professional dental services in 2011. The new law authorizes specially trained dental therapists, or mid-level dental providers, to perform expanded functions, such as filling caries lesions and performing extractions of deciduous teeth, after completing additional education and clinical training.
From Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. September 2014;12(9):12,14.
