Dental students seek support from Md. lawmakers

Students and faculty told more than 30 key Maryland legislators in private meetings at the state Capitol on February 10 that the University of Maryland Dental School may not keep its top 10 rankings in dental education and research without at least its current level of financial support.

The students asked senators and delegates to support the governor's budget for the University System of Maryland, which has been supporting the school's community healthcare services, research program, rural clinics for at-risk patients, and a role in helping the state realize oral health reform measures.

"Dentists at the school's public clinics continue to admit one to two patients a week to the University of Maryland Medical Center with serious dental infections," Louis DePaola, DDS, a professor of oncology and diagnostic sciences, told the legislators. "These could have been taken care of with only $100 to $200 in dental care."

The dental school is the largest supplier of dental services to underserved populations in Maryland with $12 to $16 million donated annually in uncompensated services to the needy in the Baltimore region, the students noted in the meeting. They students also led discussions with legislators on funding for financial aid to help pay for their dental education costs, which total about $150,000 for each student.

Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton (D-Charles) greeted the students with an appeal to consider practicing in rural Maryland. Recently, a public clinic run by the county's health department had a waiting list of thousands, he said.

"That is the undermet need and that is what you [students] will start to experience when you get your degrees and go out into the community and hang your shingle up," Middleton said. "My first hope is that you will stay in the state of Maryland. My second hope is that some of you will take a look at some of the underserved areas."