Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire held its Annual Membership Meeting on March 12, 2010. This year’s theme was “A Decade of Service Excellence and Growth.” Since 1961, our mission has been to enhance and increase oral health coverage for all citizens of the Granite State. In New Hampshire, 93% of licensed dentists are participating members of our dental network. Fifty-three new dentists came on-board in 2009, filling the gap left by forty-six dentists who retired or relocated out of state. Remarkably, Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire had no resignations from New Hampshire dentists in 2009.
As reported at this year’s Annual Membership Meeting, we celebrated significant milestone anniversaries of sixty-two of our 811 New Hampshire participating member dentists in the year 2009. Twenty-one dentists achieved their 20 year participation milestone, eleven dentists reached their quarter century milestone, thirteen dentists marked their 30 year milestone (including two immediate past chairmen: Dr. Robert Fremeau and Dr. David Hedstrom), ten dentists achieved 35 years of participation, and seven dentists celebrated their 40 year milestone of participation with Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire.
Of note, in our Northeast Delta Dental tri-state area, 263 of our 1,600 participating dentists were recognized last year for their longevity. Northeast Delta Dental is a great corporate model of a partnership with the dental profession that makes a positive difference in improving both the oral and overall health of the citizens of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Statistics show 81% of Northeast Delta Dental subscribers go to the dentist; of patients without insurance coverage, only half that population sees the dentist and those numbers drop lower in a troubled economy. I personally want to thank our dentist membership for their participation and loyalty all of these years and for their dedication to quality service to their patients.