Some 100 dentists from across Maine visited the State House April 11 to express their opposition to a bill that would allow dental hygiene therapists to practice in the state, the Kennebec Journal reported.
LD 1230, "An Act to Improve Access to Oral Health Care," was introduced by House Speaker Mark Eves (D-North Berwick), and is intended to bring oral care to Maine's rural areas.
Those in the new role would be permitted to perform extractions, administer anesthesia, place crowns, and prescribe drugs such as anti-inflammatories with the oversight of a supervising dentist, according to the article.
But many of the state's dentists disagree, telling the Legislature's Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee that the bill grants overly broad powers to those with significantly less training than what dentists receive.
A previous bill funded a study, completed in December 2012, by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of New York in Albany to help the Legislature make a decision about how to bring oral care to areas where access is lacking. Two-thirds of the state's population resides in a rural area, while 14% of the state's dentists practice in such areas, according to the study results. And 24% of the state's dentists intend to retire within five years, while an additional 16% plan to reduce their hours.
