Bangor-based health provider gets funding for dental hygiene therapist
Courtesy / Penobscot Community Health Care
Penobscot Community Health Care has been awarded a $25,000 grant to pilot a dental hygiene therapist at its Dental Center in Bangor.
Penobscot Community Health Care is looking to hire a dental hygiene therapist for a pilot project with a long-term goal of expanding dental access while reducing the cost of care.
The Bangor-based nonprofit, a Federally Qualified Health Center with 200 providers and about 850 total employees, will fund the project with a $25,000 grant from the Arlington,Va.-based Dental Trade Alliance Foundation.
Penobscot Community Health Care also received a $7,500 discretionary grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation to help evaluate the project's clinical and financial outcomes.
Although Maine has allowed dental hygiene therapists to practice since 2014, no one has attempted since then to navigate the certification or license requirements, and PCHC is looking to be the first in the state to pilot the model and prove its success. The project is expected to last one to two years.
“By using dental hygiene therapists in the PCHC Dental Center, we will be able to serve more patients, see them sooner and more frequently, and complete treatment plans more efficiently,” Lori Dwyer, Penobscot Community Health Care's president and CEO, said in a news release.
She added that the work of hygiene therapists "frees up our dentists for more complex procedures, which all benefits the patient. It’s working in other countries and a few other states, and we’re excited to see it work here in Maine.”
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