Mon Health Dept. Dentistry holds second free cleaning event
Newsroom@DominionPost.com
Barbara Garcia waited nervously at Monongalia County Health Department for her first dental appointment in about 20 years.
An hour later, she realized her fear was all for naught after she had her teeth cleaned by registered dental hygienist Tiffany Summerlin and examined by Dr. Youseph Kassar, both part of the staff at MCHD Dentistry.
“It went well,” Garcia said Wednesday morning after her time in the chair. “I wasn’t scared at all. Tiffany was very gentle and it made me relaxed. It’s a very nice staff and a very friendly dentist.”
Garcia was participating in MCHD Dentistry’s Healthy Smiles Day, which provides a free cleaning, X-rays and check-up to adults without dental insurance. Twenty-four patients were seen during the second Healthy Smiles Day, up three from 21 in 2019.
The event was started last year, also on the day before Thanksgiving, which tends to be a slower one for patient visits. It is modeled after the American Dental Association’s Give Kids a Smile, the annual February event that provides the same experience for children without dental insurance.
And like Give Kids a Smile, Healthy Smiles Day not only offers a dental appointment, but it also gives those who haven’t been to the dentist ever or in a while the opportunity to realize it can be a positive experience. This makes it more likely that a patient will return for regular visits, which Garcia said she planned to do.
Dr. Dan Carrier, program manager at MCHD Dentistry, had the idea for Healthy Smiles Day.
“My hope for MCHD Healthy Smiles Day is that we raise awareness for oral health care in adults, highlight our health department and raise awareness about the dental services provided here,” Carrier said.
Established in 1974, MCHD Dentistry is the only comprehensive dental practice in a county health department in West Virginia. It’s a full-service dental office where patients can receive not only biannual dental cleanings and checkups, but also therapeutic procedures such as fillings, dental bridges, ceramic crowns, implant finishing, root canals and simple extractions, plus cosmetic work such as tooth whitening.
The practice, which accepts several types of payment, including West Virginia Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and private insurance as well as offers a sliding-scale fee option, has been expanding since Carrier’s arrival in 2010. This includes new operatories featuring updated high-tech equipment, including digital X-rays and additional staff. Kassar joined this past summer as MCHD Dentistry’s second dentist.
Two years ago, MCHD launched Smile Express, a mobile RV dental clinic that visits schools in six West Virginia counties, seeing students who don’t have a dental home. It’s another example of MCHD Dentistry’s outreach, as is Healthy Smiles Day.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 2014-17, only about 50% of adults in the United States ages 18 to 64 had dental insurance. Those percentages varied depending on the region. The South Atlantic region, which includes West Virginia, had one of the lower percentages, at 45.6%.
Also, according to the CDC, the percentage of adults ages 18 to 44 with untreated cavities from 2013-16 was 31.6%. Untreated cavities can lead to other health problems if an individual experiences an abscess, or infection, that can travel to other parts of the body.
Carrier said he hopes to make Healthy Smiles Day an annual MCHD tradition.
It’s a tradition that Rebekah James appreciates. Once the Bruceton Mills native no longer had dental insurance through her parents, she was happy to find MCHD Dentistry as her regular provider.
“This is a fabulous dentist situation,” James said. “They look into my gum health, which my previous dentist didn’t do. It’s a much more thorough exam. I never had such a thorough dental exam until I came here.”
More information on MCHD Dentistry can be found at monchd.org/dentistry.html or on Facebook at facebook.com/mchddentistry.
