With the ratio of dentists to patients in Maine only half the national average, according to Anthem, there is excellent reason to celebrate the second anniversary of Miles for Smiles, a mobile dental office that brings care to some distinctly underserved communities in this region. The service makes a major difference in the smiles of thousands of Maine children each year.

Since November 2003 the clinic on wheels has made regular visits to Dover-Foxcroft, Pittsfield, Skowhegan and to the Presque Isle-Houlton area. There, kids from infancy to age 18 whose families have incomes below 200 percent of poverty, receive free screenings, cleanings, treatment, fillings and extractions, even root-canal operations.

The clinic, supported by grants from Anthem Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Maine, is staffed by Penobscot Community Health Center in Bangor, which provides a dentist, assistant and hygienist. More than 6,000 children have received 21,000 dental procedures in the program’s short life. The clinic is on the road 48 weeks a year.

It’s certainly needed; probably another one is too. Dental care is a crucial part of overall primary care, but many children do not visit a dentist regularly – one in 10 kindergartners in Maine has never been to a dentist. Tooth decay is among the most prevalent childhood diseases in the nation, but Maine not only has too few dentists and too few dental specialists, a significant portion of its dentists will be retiring in the next decade without enough dental-school graduates to replace them.

Student-loan repayments and federal legislation that attracts more dentists to rural areas might further help reduce some of the shortfall. Meanwhile, the Miles for Smiles program is providing crucial service to thousands of Maine children.