Clinic expansion: a thing for the community to sink its teeth into
Lynchburg News and Advance
Tuesday, June 6, 2006Getting good dental care should not be like, well, pulling teeth. And with plans announced last week, getting dental care should be easier in Central Virginia.
The Free Clinic’s dental program, which was formed through the teamwork of Dr. Augustus Petticolas and Dr. William Riley in 1987-88, opened with used equipment and a handful of volunteer dentists who staffed the clinic in the evenings after their workday was complete.
It was Petticolas, Riley and Bob Barlow, the clinic’s executive director, who approached the VCU School of Dentistry with the concept of a senior rotation through the Free Clinic. If the VCU students could work during the day, said Riley, volunteer dentists could be found to supervise them.
VCU liked the idea, and three years ago, it was put into practice. The concept has worked so well, in fact, that the Free Clinic expects to double its current size. It’s raising the well-deserved money - about $125,000 - now. Through that partnership with VCU, six dental students would see about 4,000 patients a year at the facility, located at 1016 Main St.
The dentists here like it, they say, because they have more time to spend with their own patients. And the VCU students like it, they say, because it gives them practical experience in a real setting, which helps boost their confidence.
But the real ones who win are the citizens of Central Virginia. Not just the low-income people who qualify for the services, but all taxpayers.
And here’s why: According to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, dental care is just as important to overall health and daily routine as taking medications and getting physical exercise. A healthy mouth helps people eat well, avoid pain and tooth loss, and feel good about themselves.
Increasing research suggests there is a correlation between good dental health and other health issues, like a connection between gum disease and heart health and links between periodontal disease and other problems, including premature births and diabetes.
And when people are sick, productivity suffers. According to Delta Dental of Massachusetts, a dental plan administrator, dental-related illnesses result in 164 million lost work hours and 51 million lost school hours (per every 100,000 children) in the United States each year.
Preventative care - like some of the services offered at the clinic - can help combat those problems: a 12 percent increase in regular oral check-ups coincided with a 52 percent decrease in the number of fillings between 1979 to 1990.
And while all of this is something to smile about, one sad fact remains.
Barlow told The News & Advance last week: “I think that between us and the James River Dental Clinic (a Johnson Health Center program in Madison Heights) we’re probably still serving only 20 to 30 percent of the people who have dental needs.”
Return to Newspaper Articles