A state official told lawmakers in Augusta on Thursday that denturists should continue to be regulated by the Maine Board of Dental Examiners, despite denturists’ repeated petitions for the state to establish a separate board. But the official supported strengthening the authority of denturists and dental hygienists on their respective board subcommittees, as well as a related proposal to allow qualified dental hygienists to practice independently without the clinical oversight of dentists.

Ann Head, director of the Office of Licensing and Registration within the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, presented her department’s recommendations on a group of four bills held over from the last legislative session. Her so-called “sunrise review” of the four measures was limited to examining whether proposed changes to the existing regulation of dentists, denturists and dental hygienists would improve or threaten public health, safety and welfare, not whether they were good policy or would necessarily expand Mainers’ access to dental care.

In her presentation to the members of the Legislature’s Committee on Business, Research and Economic Development, Head endorsed LD 550, which would allow dental hygienists to practice independently in Maine. While she cautioned that there is no guarantee that hygienists would be motivated to open private practices in Maine’s rural areas, where they’re needed most, she said there’s evidence to support the premise that they can practice safely, responsibly and within the scope of their profession without the clinical oversight of dentists.

Head recommended that the other three bills not be acted on. The three measures include:

. LD 1472, a proposal to create a new licensing board to regulate denturists and dental hygienists. Some Maine denturists have been persistent on this issue, claiming that the dental board is biased against denturists, who compete for dentists’ profitable denture-making business. Several proposals to create a new licensing board have been rejected in recent years.

Head said Thursday that the public welfare would be ill-served by fracturing the professional link among dentists, denturists and hygienists. She urged the three groups to work more cooperatively, and recommended that the existing board subcommittees for denturists and hygienists be strengthened to allow them greater authority over licensing and disciplinary actions.

. LD 1246, a proposal to establish a midlevel dental hygienist category with practitioners able to provide a number of services now provided only by dentists.

Head said Maine lacks the educational capacity to train or regulate this higher level of dental hygienist, but that in the future this initiative could help provide essential dental care to Maine’s underserved population.

. LD 1129, a proposal to ease licensing requirements for graduates of foreign dental schools. These applicants now must graduate from a two-year supplementary training program in the United States to ensure their competency to practice according to American standards. The bill would have eliminated this requirement and charged the dental board with credentialing some foreign schools, allowing graduates of those programs to begin practicing in Maine more quickly.

Head said the board members are not education professionals and lack the expertise to develop a credentialing process. She said the current system, similar to that in many other states, works well to protect Mainers from poorly trained dentists.

The proposal to allow the independent practice of dental hygienists will be redrafted to include the recommendation to strengthen the authority of denturists and hygienists on the dental board. A public hearing on the new measure has not yet been scheduled.