During the 2000 Maryland legislative session, House Bill 543/Senate Bill 519, entitled the Maryland Dent-Care Loan Assistance Repayment Program (MDC-LARP), was passed providing State funding for a student loan repayment program for dentists. The purpose of MDC-LARP is to increase access to oral health care services for Maryland Medical Assistance Program (MMAP) recipients by increasing the number of dentists treating this population. Through receipt of $23,740 per year in loan repayment assistance over a three-year period, participating dentists agree to treat a minimum of 30% MMAP recipients as a portion of their total patient population per year. For a three-year commitment and dependant upon available funding, MDC-LARP may provide loan repayments to five Maryland licensed dentists a year.
During the 2023 Maryland legislative session, House Bill 290/Senate Bill 237 increased the loan repayment to $50,000 per year for a three-year commitment for dentists, and included the addition of dental hygienists for $10,000 per year for a two-year commitment. The number of recipients per award is to be determined based on available funding.
The Maryland Dent-Care Loan Assistance Program (MDC-LARP) is a collaboration between two state agencies, the Maryland Department of Health, Office of Oral Health (OOH) and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), Office of Student Financial Assistance. The Office of Student Financial Assistance distributes the offer letters, distributes the loan repayment checks and addresses any questions related to the loan repayment checks. The Office of Oral Health promotes the program, collects program applications and supporting documents, convenes a review panel, plans the new awardee orientation, monitors awardee monthly obligation and gathers programmatic feedback from awardees.
