Resolve, To Improve Oral Health for Children

Sec. 1. Board of Dental Examiners to establish low-income dental health program. Resolved: That the Board of Dental Examiners, established by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 12004-A, subsection 10, shall adopt rules to create a program to allow dental hygienists certified by the board to provide dental care outside of a dental office to low-income persons and MaineCare recipients. The program must allow dental hygienists to provide the following services:

1. Triage;

2. Case management;

3. Current dental hygiene preventive services;

4. Administering local anesthesia, including nitrous oxide;

5. Cavity prevention;

6. Simple restorations;

7. Pulpotomies;

8. Deciduous extractions;

9. Space maintainers; and

10. Prescribing antimicrobials, fluoride and antibiotics; and be it further

Sec. 2. Requirements for participation. Resolved: That the program established in this resolve must provide a certificate for participation in the program to a dental hygienist who meets the requirements determined by the Board of Dental Examiners and provides evidence of liability insurance and documentation of the following requirements:

1. Licensure as a dental hygienist pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 32, section 1098;

2. Completion of a one-year internship with a dentist licensed under Title 32, section 1084 or a hygienist certified under the program established in section 1; and

3. Fulfillment of the recommended hours of didactic and clinical training in an educational institution accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation or successor organization; and be it further

Sec. 3. Rules. Resolved: That the Board of Dental Examiners shall adopt major substantive rules pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A to carry out the purposes of this resolve.

summary

This resolve directs the Board of Dental Examiners to establish a program to allow dental hygienists certified by the board to provide dental care outside of a dental office to low-income persons and MaineCare recipients.