MARYLAND — Dave’s Hot Chicken plans to open 3 new Maryland restaurants by the end of the year, bringing its beloved menu of spicy specialties to more eager diners.

The quickly expanding fried chicken chain started in 2017 as a small street food cart in an East Hollywood parking lot. It has since ballooned into an international operation with 200 restaurants in six countries.

Named America’s fastest-growing restaurant chain last year, the company has attracted an array of celebrity investors, including superstar rapper Drake, who bought a sizeable stake in 2021. In March, the singer Usher announced a deal to open several locations across Atlanta.

Dave’s made its mark with a simple menu of Nashville-style hot chicken tenders, sliders, fries and mac and cheese, earning it a vocal following — particularly among heat-seekers. While all of its fried chicken is available on a scale of milder variations, the chain’s most infamous offering is seasoned with the Carolina Reaper pepper and requires diners to sign a waiver.

Newer additions include the “Dave’s NOT Chicken” menu, offering plant-based sliders and bites made from cauliflower.

Here’s where the new Maryland restaurants are opening this year:

• Glen Bumie
• Columbia
• Silver Spring

Exact opening dates are not yet available, but company representatives tell Patch all three locations are set to begin operations sometime in the third quarter of 2024, between July and September.

As Patch previously reported, the Silver Spring location is tentatively set for the White Oak Town Center.

Additional location details about the Glen Burnie and Columbia locations were not immediately available.

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.