After hearing an hour of passionate testimony Tuesday, the Louisiana House of Representatives Committee on Health and Welfare deferred until next week its vote on a bill to bar for-profit dentistry from schools.
The committee heard arguments from dental associations, educators, health clinic directors, and mobile dentists.
In one of the most spirited remarks, Claudia Cavallino, D.D.S., president of the Louisiana Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, said she was concerned that parents were not sufficiently involved when dentists treat students on school sites. She called setting up operatories in libraries and gyms "third-world dentistry."
Practitioners and supervisors of school-based dentistry argued that they were providing state-of-the-art dental care at school sites. Ginger Hunt, CEO of Primary Care Providers for a Healthy Louisiana, said her organization operates five permanent health centers on school grounds and works actively with parents. "Now you tell me that the dental home these children for five, six years have been using is no longer a dental home?" she asked.
With many other people eager to testify and legislators eager to ask questions, the committee voted to defer further discussion on the bill, H.R. 687, introduced by Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell), until a date to be determined next week.
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