The best part of an article last month in the American Dental Association’s newsletter was the lack of subtlety. The headline said, “Wanted: dentists,” and the straightforward, solid story that followed described Maine’s lack of dentists, its unusual alliance with Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia to get more dentists and the opportunity for dentists from elsewhere to come here to practice. In a state with a real shortage of care in some areas and a Medicaid-access problem statewide, the piece couldn’t have been more timely.

The story, by Karen Fox, captures, if not kindly at least honestly, Maine’s challenge. “With no dental schools, no dental practice residencies and a slower-paced lifestyle that doesn’t exactly rival New York City of Boston, drawing new dentists to Maine is difficult.” (The impression here always has been that not being New York or Boston was a plus, but no doubt Ms. Fox knows dentists’ interests better than we do.) Anyway, the results speak for themselves. The national average for dentists is approximately one per every 1,700 people; in 1998, each of Maine’s 587 dentists represented 2,127 people, and the problem was actually worse because those dentists are not spread out evenly throughout the state, with some communities having only a few extremely busy ones.

The King administration and the Maine Dental Association have been trying to correct this problem, most encouragingly through the affiliation with Dalhousie in Halifax, where the dental school will set aside spaces for up to six Maine students each year. The university could be especially attractive to Maine students because it costs approximately $20,000 a year in U.S. dollars, compared with $30,000 to $35,000 for U.S. schools, and a reciprocal agreements between the two countries means there will be no problem with accreditation.

The idea is that the Maine students will attend Dalhousie and then return to the state. The hope is that they will return to areas that need dentists most. This is crucial both for people who can afford dental care but have a hard time finding an available dentist nearby and for Medicaid patients, who can have a hard time finding an available dentist anywhere. Maine’s top-five ranking among states for seniors with total tooth loss is an honor it could do without.

The MDA’s recent campaign to sell Maine as a great place to live – despite not being New York of Boston – has resulted in its taking lobster rolls and promotional brochures to the four New England dental schools. No doubt this will help. Getting a respected national organization such as the ADA, however, to essentially advertise that Maine would welcome new dentists must be worth at least two coolers full of lobster rolls. No need to brush and floss after reading the article, either.