AUGUSTA, Maine - A bill aimed at providing more dental services in Maine's underserved rural areas is dead for the session after the Senate bucked the House and voted to sustain Gov. Paul LePage's veto of the measure.
Earlier, the House voted to override LePage's veto.
The bill would repeal the current requirement for dental therapists to be directly supervised by a dentist. But Sen. Andre Cushing, a Republican from Newport, argued that the move was too risky.
"We are offering individuals who have not gone through the full measure of schooling the opportunity to do irreversible procedures in the mouth of ourselves and our children," Cushing said.
Supporters argued that the legislation was needed to ease the shortage of dentists, and would still require oversight of a dentist.
