Here are seven dental hygiene updates that have taken place since March 17:
1. NYC Health + Hospitals added preventive dental hygiene services at its pediatric practices in an effort to improve oral health in children.
2. Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Ill., received a $1 million grant to advance its dental hygiene program.
3. Mansfield, Pa.-based Laurel Health's dental hygienist sponsorship program is expanding eligibility to more applicants.
4. Washington, Tennessee and Iowa have all passed the Dental and Dental Hygienist Compact, a policy supporting license portability for dentists and dental hygienists.
5. Four public colleges in Colorado received grants totaling $5 million to expand and create dental hygienist programs.
6. Rome, N.Y. Mayor Jacqueline Izzo proposed $500,000 in funding to create a dental hygienist program at a local college.
7. Patients in Southern Nevada can wait four months for an appointment due to a shortage of dental hygienists in the area.