Maine
Should Maine allow associate dentists without doctoral degrees? Dentists don’t think so
Lawmakers are considering two bills that attempt to increase access to dental care in Maine by studying ways to establish specialist residency programs in the state and creating a new license tier with lower educational requirements, a measure that multiple dentists opposed.
LD 2206 would establish an associate dentist license, which would allow a dentist without the equivalent of a U.S. doctoral degree in dentistry — such as a dentist with a bachelor’s degree who trained outside of the U.S. — to practice dentistry under supervision of a licensed dentist.
Under this new license, associate dentists would have a pathway to full licensure if they were in good standing for six consecutive years. There is currently a pathway for foreign-trained dentists to work in Maine, but it requires additional education.
The bill comes as access to Maine dentists has declined. The ranks of dentists decreased from 590 in 2019 to 530 in 2023. Most children in Maine don’t get an annual checkup and cleaning from a dentist, according to a study last year from the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service and Catherine E. Cutler Institute.
Penobscot Community Health Care, Maine’s largest federally qualified health center, brought the issue to lawmakers after two “very highly qualified” dentists the center hoped to hire were denied licensure by the Maine Board of Dental Practice because they didn’t meet current educational equivalency requirements.
The health center estimated those dentists could have provided 8,000 appointments with patients, according to testimony from Lori Dwyer, president and CEO of Penobscot Community Health Care.
Penobscot Community Health Care, which said it operates the largest dental center in Maine and has a network of 51 workspaces for dental care, emphasized that federally qualified health centers are subject to strict federal oversight, reporting requirements and high standards.
“[Penobscot Community Health Care] would never support a pathway that compromises safety, and they would never hire a clinician that would provide unsafe treatment to patients,” Dwyer wrote in testimony that was read on her behalf to the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services committee.
Northern Light Health also submitted testimony in support, saying the bill would help address workforce shortages and reduce emergency room visits for dental conditions.
“Like most hospitals in Maine, Northern Light Health members are challenged with inappropriate utilization of our emergency rooms by individuals seeking care for dental/tooth pain,” Lisa Harvey-McPherson, vice president of government relations, wrote in her testimony. “Patients generally present with cracked teeth, abscesses, dental caries or tooth eruptions, leading to thousands of emergency room claims for dental related diagnosis codes each year.”
Multiple dentists and dentistry representatives testified against the bill, arguing that there are existing pathways for foreign-trained dentists and that lower standards could set up a two-tiered system in which poorer and more rural residents receive care from dentists with less training.
Dr. Kailee Jorgenson, a licensed dentist who is the clinical director at Portland-based Mainely Teeth and president of the Maine Oral Health Centers Alliance, said the patients most likely to receive care under the proposed pathway are MaineCare recipients, rural residents and children. These patients often have the most complex needs, she said.
“Maine should not create one standard of dentistry for those with resources and another for those without,” Jorgenson told the committee.
Jorgenson and others who testified against the measure said they instead support a second bill, LD 2209, which would study how to expand access to dental care.
LD 2209 would direct the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to consider how to establish dental specialist residency programs in Maine, including for pediatric dentists, oral surgeons and orthodontists. The bill would also require the department to study ways to create a hub-and-spoke model to expand access to services across the state.
“We have a shortage of specialists in Maine, and it doesn’t matter how you’re trying to pay,” said Therese Cahill, executive director of the Maine Dental Association, which represents dentists. “To see an oral surgeon, to see a periodontist, to see an orthodontist, or a pediatric dentist, you’re waiting.”
No one spoke against the bill or submitted testimony in opposition.
The committee will consider both bills during upcoming work sessions when it will decide whether to forward them to the full Legislature. The work sessions had not been scheduled as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
PORTLAND (WGME) — The third annual Celebration of America 300 is set for Thursday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.
This race was a favorite of NASCAR star Kyle Busch, who tragically passed away back in May. He was just 41.
Now, a Maine-born driver who worked on Busch’s team is ready to take the 8 car into victory lane.
For the past five years, Windham native Derek Kneeland was Busch’s eye in the sky, working as a spotter for the cup star. Kneeland says his relationship with Busch was like a brotherhood.
“I was fortunate enough where I got to have a personal relationship with him,” Kneeland said. “He came up, and he ran several races with me in late models and stuff at Oxford and Lee Speedway, and we got to do a lot of cool things together.”
Kneeland says dealing with the sudden loss has been both painful and difficult.
“It’s still hard,” Kneeland said. “I’m having a hard time with it. The weekdays are the hardest. At the track is where I’m most comfortable.”
Kneeland will be at the track and behind the wheel Thursday night, competing in the Celebration of America 300, driving the number 8 car.
“You know, a few days after everything went down, his dad called me, and his dad is a man of very few words, and I said, ‘You know, I’m thinking about running the 8 or 51 as long as I have your guys’ blessing, I would like to do that.’ And he said, ‘Short track world knows him as 51, but the world knows him as 8,’” Kneeland said.
Kneeland says it will be an emotional race, but he’s confident he’ll have a special co-pilot leading the way.
“Hoping he’s going to be on my shoulder and give me the guiding way and but to win it for Kyle, I think that would put the stamp on it,” Kneeland said.
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