Sharing stories of pain and stigma, low-income Mainers call on lawmakers to pass dental bill

Robby Nash contributed to this story.

Dozens of working-class Mainers rallied at the State House on Thursday to demand their legislators vote to support a bill to guarantee comprehensive dental coverage for low-income adults through MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program.

LD 1955 is the second attempt to secure dental coverage for low-income adults after a similar bill, LD 1453, passed both the state House and Senate with bipartisan support in 2019. That bill was not signed by Governor Janet Mills and was not funded in the budget. If passed, LD 1955 would allow adult residents with an annual incomes below $17,000, who qualify for MaineCare, to receive dental benefits.

“Maine people know how scary and painful it is to go without dental care,” said Ambureen Rana, a community organizer for Maine Equal Justice, an advocacy group that helped organize the rally. “Thousands of people in our state know what it is like to speak with their hand covering their mouth, to be rejected for a job, to feel less than because of how their teeth look, and to lay awake at night with pain and worry about losing another tooth.”

“We need [the legislature and the governor] to support dental care as health care now,” Rana continued.

Allina Diaz, a mother of three from Warren and a person in recovery, spoke to the roughly 30 attendees about how many of the people she knows often can’t “move forward” with their lives without adequate dental care.

“People I know and care about have struggled with their teeth, the kind of intense pain that is preventing them from working and affect every part of their existence,” she said. “When we have problems with our skin, our bones, our stomach, our heart – we can go to the doctor and address these issues under MaineCare. Why are our teeth any different, especially when we have seen and heard across the state the impact that dental pain and infection has on our neighbors?”

Kim Hammill, a mental health care counselor and social worker from Levant, described how she fears for her daughter, Camryn, who is a junior in college, and how her lack of dental care will affect her job prospects once she graduates. Unable to afford regular dental care, Camryn’s teeth are decaying.

“The cycle of poverty is a central reason why a trip to the dentist is so far out of reach,” said Hammill. “My daughter may well be blocked from getting ahead because our health care system does not see dental health as part of our overall health.”

Before the rally, advocates held a training for impacted Mainers wishing to talk to their legislators about the importance of the bill.

Drew Gattine (D-Westbook), the bill’s sponsor and the House co-chair of the Appropriations Committee, addressed the group about the power of sharing personal experience.

“The opportunity for people to come up here and meet legislators in the hallway and express to them in one-on-one conversations how important this issue is to them, as someone who has been a legislator for eight years, it’s really, really impactful,” Gattine said. “It is shameful and cruel that we don’t have access to dental care already. But there is great momentum and good energy behind this bill.”

“This is the essence of grassroots democracy,” he said.

In January, dental care advocates, including health care providers and low-income Mainers who have gone without care, delivered more than 1,500 postcards to Mills asking for her support. The bill was voted out of the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee with bipartisan support in late February.

While some advocates are concerned about whether there will be enough money to fund the bill in the governor’s supplemental budget, LD 1955 is estimated to significantly lower state spending on emergency room care, potentially by as much as $4 million.

According to research by the American Dental Association, 45 percent of low-income Mainers say they avoid smiling because of the state of their teeth and mouth, and more than one in three say the appearance of their mouth and teeth affects their ability to get a job. A 2010 report from the Muskie School for Public Service found that the top reason for an emergency department visit among both Mainers who qualify for MaineCare and uninsured young adults aged 15 through 44 was dental disease.

Top photo: Attendees at the rally holding up signs declaring ‘Dental care is health care.’ | Robby Nash