AUGUSTA - The Legislature's Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday in support of LD 1256, sponsored by Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio, D-Sanford. The bill would increase access to oral health care by expanding the Maine Dental Education Loan Program to include dental hygienists, dental therapists, dental assistants and expanded function dental assistants. Currently, the program only provides loans and loan repayment assistance to dentists practicing in underserved areas of Maine.
"Since passing legislation last session to expand dental coverage under MaineCare, more Mainers than ever before have been able to afford badly needed care," said Mastraccio. "Unfortunately, the dental care workforce has not been able to meet this increased demand. The bipartisan support for expanding this program demonstrates that access to dental care is a critical problem in all parts of our state and that Republicans, Democrats and Independents are ready to take this issue seriously."
The program was established to address a lack of access to dental care in certain parts of the state. Twenty years since the establishment of the program, Maine still faces a severe shortage in access to dental care.
The exclusive nature of the existing statute, limiting loan repayment to dentists only, negatively affects Maine's ability to attract valuable members of the oral health workforce," said Courtney Vannah, Program Manager at Oral Health Initiatives, MCD Global Health. "As a former faculty member in the Dental Hygiene Program at the University of New England, where the majority of students come to Maine for their education from out-of-state, I can attest sincerely that the student loan debt they incur is no match for the lower wage offerings in Maine."
According to a 2022 report co-authored by the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute, the American Dental Assistants Association, the American Dental Hygienists' Association, the Dental Assisting National Board and IgniteDA, vacant positions among dental assistants and hygienists have reduced dental practice capacity by roughly 10% nationally.
The bill faces further votes in the House and Senate in the coming weeks.
Mastraccio is serving her fifth non-consecutive term in the Maine House of Representatives and is a member of the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee and the Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee. She represents House District 142, which includes a portion of Sanford and Springvale.
Contact:
Brian Lee [Mastraccio], c. 305-965-2744