Good News: New Hampshire now has a dental residency program. The program introduces three new dentists a year to dental centers that don’t have enough dentists on staff to keep up with the demands for services.
The launch of this program is particularly timely. In April 2023 expanded adult Medicaid dental benefits will take effect, resulting in thousands of new patients needing care, many with critical dental issues. Currently in the state of New Hampshire there are not enough providers to meet the need. If you want to learn more about the new legislation providing adult Medicaid dental benefits, read my July 12 blog post.
New Hampshire does not have its own school of dental medicine so Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, operates the dental residency program in collaboration with Bi-State Primary Care Association. Bi-State Primary Care Association is the only nonprofit recruitment resource in New Hampshire and Vermont for health care professionals. Its mission is to recruit and retain physicians, dentists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment providers, with an emphasis on the needs of medically underserved areas and populations.
The Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) – Rural Track is funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). It is designed to increase the opportunities for dental school graduates to develop the skills and cultural competencies needed to treat underserved populations of people with limited resources.
The clinical sites at which the dentists will work with supervision are: Dental Health Works in Keene, Mid-State Health Center in Bristol, Greater Seacoast Community Health in Somersworth, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, Coos County Family Health Services in Berlin, Oral Healthcare@Home in Manchester, and Harbor Care Health and Wellness Center in Nashua.
Dentists will be recruited to work in New Hampshire after completing their formal post-doctoral dental training. The first cohort of the AEGD program began on September 1. Learn more details of the program at AEGD Program – Rural Track | Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
