The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Friday unanimously passed S.20, which licenses dental practitioners to provide oral health services in Vermont at the discretion of a dentist.

The bill has support from a coalition of advocates who say it will increase access to dental care in underserved rural areas of the state, but it’s opposed by the Vermont Dental Society, which argues licensing a mid-level provider won’t address broader issues affecting access. They also question the adequacy of educational requirements for practitioners.

Sen. Brain Collamore of Rutland, the lone Republican on the Health and Welfare Committee, shared those concerns, but had them addressed with an amendment. The bill creates two levels of practitioners, one which requires a master’s degree and another that requires a bachelor’s degree.

Collamore’s amendment allows the master’s-level practitioners to perform the more invasive procedures covered by their scope of practice off-site without a sponsoring dentist’s supervision, but would require that a dentist be on site for the bachelor’s-level practitioners to perform those same procedures.

“I think it’s a compromise, and I think it works,” he said.

Advocates were less enthused, because Vermont doesn’t have the infrastructure for a master’s-level program, while Vermont Technical College has already agreed to offer the bachelor’s-level course.

S.20 will now go before the Government Operations Committee before it can get a vote on the Senate floor.