A year after New Hampshire allowed dental benefits for adults on Medicaid, NHTI is using grant funding to start treating those patients in Concord, which should help alleviate a backlog in treatment as well as expand training for the school’s dental hygienist program. 

“They’re going to be seeing more patients and the cases will be more complicated. Adult Medicaid patients often have greater challenges with oral health if they haven’t seen a provider in a number of years,” said Patrick Tompkins, president of Concord’s community college.

The program is being half funded by a $500,000 donation from the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation, with the rest provided by the school from other grants and operating funds, Tompkins said.

After years of debate the state legislature agreed last year to expand the state’s pass-through of Medicaid funds to non-emergency dental work for adults. New Hampshire was one of about 10 states that provided adult dental Medicaid coverage for only emergencies but not regular preventative care like cleaning.

Some 21,000 people were expected to take advantage of the program in the first year. Tompkins said this influx hit an already strained oral health system struggling with a shortage of dentists and dental assistants. The problem is particularly acute for patients on Medicaid. Many dental practices either limit how many Medicaid patients they accept or even refuse to take them at all because of the program’s lower reimbursement rates and paperwork requirements.

NHTI has had the state’s only program for training dental hygienists and assistants since 1970. “If somebody is cleaning your teeth (in New Hampshire), there’s probably a 98% chance that person graduated from here,” said Tompkins.

Tompkins said Tom Raffio, president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, approached NHTI about expanding the program to take Medicaid patients. 

The grant will cover hiring a Medicaid specialist as well as a supervising dentist, who will oversee teams of up to eight students working on patients at a time. It will also let NHTI make upgrades to equipment, and its materials and radiology labs.

“This is a three-year pilot. We want to see the outcomes. The theory is it can become self-sustaining after three years, with Medicaid reimbursements covering the cost,” Tompkins said.

The dental hygienist program graduated from 30 to 40 people a year until the pandemic hit, dropping graduation numbers in half. This year, 36 students will graduate and get certified, Tompkins said.