The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has received a $40,000 grant from the American Public Health Association to study the success of the 2008 Public Health Dental Hygiene Act, according to a story in the Baltimore Business Journal.
The legislation allowed dental hygienists employed by public health providers to treat patients without the supervision of a dentist in order to better reach children in underserved communities, according to the story.
Harry Goodman, director of the state health department's office of oral health said the program appears to have been successful based on anecdotal reports and that, if the study can prove that to be true, the program will be expanded, reports the Journal.
