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We are in the thick of things at the Maryland General Assembly. We testified before the House Health and Government Operations Committee last week about the eligibility requirements of the Maryland Dent Care Loan Assistance Repayment Program. We testified that because of chronic under-funding, dentists and dental hygienists who were in their community full-time serving patients should be the loan assistance program’s top priority.

There are hearings set for several other bills we are working on, including legislation: 

• To help address the need for temporary help within a practice for short leaves such as pregnancy, Guard duty, or sick family.
• To increase licensure of dentists and hygienists through utilization of dental boards across states and ensure that each individual state retains the right to regulate dentistry and dental hygiene within the state.
• To ensure that certain additional online courses can be used as part of the expanded function dental assistant curriculum.
• To require each student enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in the state to submit a certificate of dental health to their school.

As I have said previously, the state is in a budget mess, so everything is getting extra scrutiny, for good reason. That said, everything will be more difficult to pass unless we can show an extraordinary amount of support.

So, what’s the best way to do that? 

Sign up for Dentist Day 2025!

We need a strong showing of our MSDA members to support these important bills that protect our patients and our practices. It’s easy to sign up, make appointments, and have a great day of supporting our profession with colleagues across the state.

Please clear your schedules for Feb. 19 to advocate for your profession, your practice and your patients. We’ll have a webinar on Feb. 13 to go over the details of the day. Once you are signed up, we’ll send you the link.

I look forward to seeing you in Annapolis.