Kalamazoo County boosts dental clinic's budget by $500000

Posted by Chris Killian | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO -- A Kalamazoo County program aimed at keeping the mouths of schoolchildren and low-income residents healthy may expand its services.

A one-time increase of $500,000 to the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Dental Clinic budget has been proposed to county commissioners by Finance Director Bill Dundon. The money would be part of the 2009 budget.


A group of county health officials will be assembled to discuss how best to spend the $500,000. Commissioners will begin budget deliberations in the fall.

Commissioner Brian Johnson said there is support on the board for the clinic and expects the $500,000 to hold firm in the budget process.

"(The clinic) is one of the most important things we can do from a public health standpoint," he said.

Every month, 325 scheduled patients and 80 walk-ins receive services at the clinic, ranging from tooth cleaning and extractions to dental examinations and fluoride treatments.

A mobile clinic provides services to 1,000 schoolchildren in the county each school year.

But about 30 people seeking services are turned away each day because of lack of staff and space, said Linda Buzas, Kalamazoo County health and community services director.

On the first Monday of every month, clinic officials begin taking appointments for the month. Within three hours, the month's appointments are booked, she said.

The clinic operates with an annual budget of $900,000, employing three dentists, three hygienists and six other support staff. It has six dental chairs.

"There is always going to be more need out there than we can accommodate," Buzas said.

Health-care providers have long stressed that maintaining dental health is important to overall health.

To be eligible for clinic services, a person must be a county resident and on Medicaid or not have dental insurance.

"We're at a point where we need to sit down and figure out what we should do with the dental clinic because it is such a highly demanded service," Buzas said. "Right now, we cannot add anymore capacity, and that is leading to some vastly unmet needs."

Charity Begins at Home - U.S. Physicians Volunteer

One of the biggest crises facing the United States today is healthcare. There are approximately 47 million people in the United States who have no medical insurance. Millions more have inadequate insurance coverage, cannot afford their premiums or deductibles, and have no access to dental care.

In the wake of recent international disasters (Myanmar and China to name the most recent), much publicity has focused on foreign aid. The U.S. spends billions of dollars every year to help those less fortunate in other countries.

But are they doing enough for their own citizens?

Dental Clinic Opens To Uninsured Patients

By Jeremy Hunt

HARRISONBURG - Marion Messmer was close to retiring from dentistry earlier this year, but then she heard about the Harrisonburg Rockingham Dental Clinic.

"I didn't have any intention of doing this," said Messmer, who recently moved to Harrisonburg after practicing dentistry for 20 years in the Arlington area. "Once I learned about this, I thought, ‘You know, they really need help with this.'"

The dental clinic needed a professional to get the program started, and Messmer took the job.

The Harrisonburg Rockingham Dental Clinic began seeing uninsured patients Monday.

It was formed by the Harrisonburg Rockingham Free Clinic, located at 24 W. Water St., to provide low-cost dental care to uninsured and Medicaid patients.

The dental clinic, which operates in the same building as the free clinic, is open three days a week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., alternating between a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule and a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday schedule.

A basic dental care visit costs $30. For major dental work, such as root canals and crowns, the clinic will refer patients to local dentists at reduced costs, said Rich Sider, executive director of the free clinic.

To qualify for dental service, patients must be residents of either Harrisonburg or Rockingham County, have no dental insurance, and earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The poverty level is an annual income of $10,400 for one person and $21,200 for a family of four.

The dental clinic is waiting for Medicaid approval to begin seeing those patients, including uninsured children, Sider said.

The free clinic estimates that 60 percent of Medicaid recipients in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County don't have access to dental care, and most of them are children.

In April, the clinic estimated about 300 of the 900 people it treats each year have some kind of dental problem.

Sider said the dental clinic should be approved for Medicaid around the end of the month.

The staff consists of Messmer and two assistants, but as the program develops, the clinic will hire more people, Sider said.

The clinic will eventually be open five days a week as the staff grows, he said.

Although she is the only dentist on staff, Messmer said she has a lot of support from others in the community.

"I don't feel like I'm in this by myself," she said. "There are people who will be there to assist me."

Messmer said uninsured people are likely to ignore problems until they're no longer tolerable, but that's something she wants to change with her work at the clinic.

"There's gonna be a lot of difficult work here," she said. "What I want to try to do is focus on prevention ... and saving your teeth and how."

Contact Jeremy Hunt at 574-6273 or jhunt@dnronline.com

Taking a bite out of dental costs

By: Adrianne Flores

GREENSBORO – While routine check-ups are something that every child needs to stay healthy, they aren’t always in the budget for many parents. The Guilford County Department of Public Health tried to offer some help with the problem on Tuesday.



Taking 6-year-old Jaylen to the dentist Tuesday wasn't exactly in Michael Clapp’s plans, or the budget. But thanks to the department’s new low-cost dental clinic, Clapp was able to take his son.



"He fell and chipped his tooth. And he said his tooth was hurting. So I brought him here for them to check it out, make sure there ain't nothing damaged,” explained Clapp of his son. "It's a help when you ain't got the money to come out your pocket… when you need that money for food or something else."


This new low-cost program is for families who don't qualify for Medicaid or N.C. Health Choice -- the state's health insurance program for children. Dr. Lad Landau says these children often don't get to see a dentist until it's too late.



"They've got other problems and dentistry is put on the side until there's a toothache,” explained Landau. “And then it really becomes much more of a problem for us to treat."



The clinic offers a variety of routine services including $15 exams, and $25 cleanings. The clinic is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.



For more information about the program, or to make an appointment, call the Greensboro office at (336) 631-3152. In High Point that number is (336) 845-7733.

Porcelain vs. Bonding

Today’s cosmetic dentists are not only focused on the oral health and well-being of their clients, they put a lot more energy and creativity into the overall appeal of a person’s smile.

Your smile says a lot about who you are and is often the very first impression someone will take in and remember about you. Why not put forth the best you can possibly offer? Which is better, porcelain or bonding?

For Appearances

Porcelain veneers are the most attractive of the two alternatives. They are translucent, which means they can be seen through and are able to reflect the light naturally, just the way your own teeth do.

Bonding, on the other hand, is opaque and reflects the light off of the tooth’s surface. This may give less of a natural appearance to the treated teeth. Overall, porcelain remains the most natural in its appearance and is often the best choice for this reason.

Cost
The cost of porcelain is much higher than it is for bonding, so bonding is more likely to be paid for by dental insurance, if proven to be a needed procedure.

Convenience - Porcelain cannot be completed in one visit to your cosmetic dentist’s office, so this raises the cost and requires at least two visits to complete.

Durability - Porcelain can tend to be brittle and is a bad choice for someone who may grind their teeth. The porcelain can actually break under the pressure of a strong bite and is not as easy to repair as bonding. Alternately, porcelain resists stains much better and is easier to keep clean.

For more help in deciding whether porcelain or bonding is best for you, contact Dr. Spinner’s cosmetic dentistry clinic today.