Maryland has about 70 dentists per 100,000 residents, according data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2020, but that doesn’t mean that they are equally distributed across the state.

State health officials and dental health advocates say that Baltimore and parts of the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland not only lack dentists, but have other barriers that make it difficult for residents to keep up with their oral health.

The Maryland Department of Health aims to change that with a new program urging dental students to launch their careers in areas with dental health care shortages.

The Pathways to Bright Futures program, which launched Wednesday, will educate those students about the dentistry profession in hopes of easing shortage in targeted areas.

Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the health department’s deputy secretary for public health services said Wednesday that fixing the workforce shortage “won’t be easy and is not going to happen overnight,” but improving access to dental services will help improve overall health equity in Maryland.

“When I think about our vision for health equity in Maryland, I see everyone in our state having a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. It’s going to take hard work … to ensure that health equity includes healthy mouths, teeth and gums for all Marylanders,” he said.

Dr. Debony Hughes, director of the department’s Office of Oral Health, said that many areas in  Western Maryland, the Eastern Shore and Baltimore have fewer than 20 dentists per 100,000 residents, well below the national average of 61 dentists per 100,000 residents.

“This program is a collaborative effort to work with students and foster their interests in the oral health field and provide support to those who know they want to practice in the profession,” Hughes said Wednesday during the program kickoff at the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore

Pathways to Bright Futures is funded by a grant to the state from the federal Health Resources and Service Administration. At Wednesday’s event, six dental health students were awarded funds to help pay their dental school tuition.Each of the students plan to practice dentistry in one of the state’s dental shortage areas.

“Cavities in children and adults, and gum disease especially in adults, are among the most prevalent chronic diseases in the United States,”  Kalyanaraman said. “The main reason why oral disease is so prevalent is that far too many Marylanders experience barriers to preventative and essential dental care.”

He noted that when Maryland dentists set up their practice, they tend to gather in “more populated and higher income areas, creating significant gaps in access to dental care across other regions of the state.”

“This shortage creates an uneven distribution of dental professionals across the state, which leads to decreased access to dental care, especially in already underserved communities,” Kalyanaraman said.

Dr. George Shepley, a general dentist in Baltimore since 1978 who previously served as president of the American Dental Association, said dental care can help identify other health needs.

“They’re connected. Totally. Especially with things like diabetes and cardiac disease,” Shepley said Wednesday. “And in the world of dentistry, you’ll get insight into well-being overall. You’ll help diagnose other conditions and empower people to really take responsibility for their lives.”

Mary Backley, CEO of the Maryland Dental Action Coalition, said there are a multitude of logistical and economic barriers that can make it challenging for some Marylanders to get to a dental appointment.

Besides a lack of equal access to the state’s 4,300 registered dentists,  another issue in dentist shortage areas is transportation, particularly for the more rural communities in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore.

“The biggest barriers, rural-wise, is the distance … It can take miles and miles and miles to get to a provider,” Backley said after Wednesday’s event.

Baltimore residents are more likely to be face a long waitlist to get a dental appointment, according to Backley. And both rural and city residents may struggle to afford child care or take time off work to go to the dentist in the first place.

There are also financial hurdles that make it harder for families to afford a trip to the dentist.

As of January 2023, Medicaid in Maryland began to cover certain dental services for adults.  And the General Assembly this year passed legislation to study the feasibility of including full and partial dentures under Medicaid coverage. Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed the bill in May.

The state Medicaid expansions can help many low-income families receive dental health care, so long as they have access to a provider that accepts Medicaid. Not all dentists in Maryland do.

Backley hopes that the Pathways to Bright Futures program will encourage more young people to look to dentistry as a career path and help fill in some of the coverage gaps in the state.

On the bright side, Backley said that residents and Maryland health officials are taking dental health care seriously.

“It’s been incremental, but each year there has been progress,” she said. “People understand the importance of oral health. And the importance of oral health to overall health.”

MARYLAND — Fines for speed camera violations are set to spike on Saturday when a new law designed to better protect road workers goes into effect, the Maryland Department of Transportation reminded motorists this week.

Beginning June 1, fines will increase from $40 to $80, state officials said in a news release. The increase is part of the Maryland Road Worker Protection Act, which Gov. Wes Moore signed into law in April.

In January 2025, speed violation fines will then convert to a tiered system based on how fast the vehicle is traveling above the speed limit. Fines range from $60 to $500 and will double if road workers are present, state officials said.

The new law also allows speed cameras to be placed in more work zones across the state. In larger work zones, more than one camera may be deployed, officials said.

Cameras will be equipped with flashing blue lights to alert motorists, according to the state.

The new law was first introduced in January, 10 months after six highway workers were killed when a car traveling more than 120 mph struck them on the Baltimore Beltway.

“Last March, Marylanders stood with broken hearts from the work zone crash on I-695 in which six highway workers’ lives tragically ended in a moment,” Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller said at the bill signing in April, according to the Baltimore Banner. “It’s a moral imperative that we protect road workers who provide critical service.”

Between 2018 and 2022, there were 7,193 work zone crashes in Maryland, or roughly 1,500 each year, according to state data. Forty-four people were killed in those crashes and 2,769 were injured.

Many of the victims were highway workers, but others are drivers and their passengers. In 2023, 12 people died in work zone crashes and other eight have died so far in 2024. This includes 14 workers and six drivers and passengers, state officials said.

One alarming aspect of the current crime wave is the dramatic increase of both violent and property crime in areas of Maryland that have not seen similar surges in the past. That’s exactly what is happening in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, which are suffering from rapid increases in rates of violent crimes, carjackings and robberies. In just the past few years, crime has exploded in these counties from a secondary concern to now ranking as the top concern for residents. Local and state leaders are unable to address this crisis alone — in the Senate, I will make sure the federal government steps up to be the real partner Maryland needs.

Organized carjacking rings are a major source of the problem. In Prince George’s County alone, carjackings have increased almost 600% since 2019 and are on track to increase even more this year. These rings often operate by recruiting teenagers. Well-intentioned but reckless efforts to keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system have made it virtually impossible to hold them accountable and offer real rehabilitation.

While we must continue to work to address the long-term root causes of crime, provide more and better mental health resources, and help those who have paid their debts successfully re-enter society, we cannot afford to avoid taking immediate action to get violent criminals off the streets.

In 2022, when I was governor, my administration showed that this could be done effectively in Baltimore City by leveraging federal resources. When then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby was failing to prosecute crimes, we worked with the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, Erek Barron, to deploy strategic federal assets to get the job done, providing millions of state funding to support additional prosecutors and staff, including 10 additional Special Assistant United States Attorneys for the Baltimore Office. These prosecutors pursued the “Al Capone model” of pursuing federal firearms, fraud and other criminal charges against individuals known to be repeat violent offenders.

That same year, amid cuts to police funding by some local jurisdictions, we advanced our $500 million Re-Fund the Police initiative, which provided a 50% increase in state aid to local police for historic salary increases and bonuses for law enforcement officers, support for victim services, and more funding for training and technology. Starting in August 2022, murders in Baltimore began to decline compared to the prior year. This trend continued for five out of the next six months before I left office and thankfully continued through 2023.

We must adopt this proven approach at the federal level as a critical tool in our crime-fighting toolbox. On day one in the Senate, I will get to work to surge resources to hire federal prosecutors who will focus on breaking up these carjacking gangs and other organized crime. Despite our investments in law enforcement, this funding and support is not always matched by local leaders. Just in the past week, we met with the Prince George’s FOP, Anne Arundel FOP and federal law enforcement to hear about the resources they need to get the job done. We need a federal Re-Fund the Police initiative with greater training for law enforcement, more school resource officers, and funding to solve violent crimes that are terrorizing our communities and eroding the quality of life for too many Marylanders.

This is only the start of what the federal government must and can do to tackle crime across not just Mayland, but all across the country. We need to pass tougher federal penalties for criminals who use illegal guns and encourage states to implement red flag laws to get guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. We need to be proactive about leveraging the federal laws on the books, such as increased penalties for firearms in school zones and other federally-designated locations, to get repeat violent offenders off the street.

Crime is on the top of the minds of Marylanders and Americans, but — like most pressing issues of the day — Washington politicians only offer platitudes and point fingers. That must change. We can no longer allow politics to get in the way of public safety. There are bipartisan common sense solutions the federal government can adopt that will make a real difference. In the Senate, I will make it a top priority to bring people in both parties together to get this done, support our law enforcement, and make our communities safer.

Larry Hogan (info@larryhogan.com) was the 62nd governor of Maryland and is the state’s Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Ben Cardin.