FAYETTEVILLE -- The "toothmobile project" is officially up and running.
Washington Regional leaders unveiled Monday the 40-foot Mobile Dental Clinic designed to deliver free dental services to low-income residents.
Dental Visits
Percentage of Arkansans who visited the dentist in the past year based on annual household income.
Less than $15,000 35.1%
$15,000-$24,999 41.7%
$25,000-$34,999 54.5%
$35,000-$49,999 62.9%
$50,000 and higher 81.4%
Source: Arkansas Department of Health
Bill Bradley, Washington Regional president and chief executive officer, said lack of transportation and lack of dental insurance prevent many low-income families from receiving dental care.
"With research showing a direct link between regular dental care and improved overall health, it is important for Washington Regional that we provide this service for members of our community who otherwise could not access it," he said.
The Walmart Foundation donated $1.87 million to the project; Delta Dental of Arkansas donated $30,000.
Ed Choate, president and chief executive officer of Delta Dental, said his organization also supports three mobile dental clinics for children, including Northwest Arkansas Care Mobile run by Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkoma.
"Our mission is to improve the dental health of Arkansans and there are so many people who can't get insurance but don't qualify for Medicaid," he said. "This helps fill that gap."
Stephanie Medford, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkoma, said more than 2,300 children have gone through Northwest Arkansas Care Mobile during its first four years. The clinic travels to about 20 sites in Benton and Washington counties, with an occasional trip to Madison County.
"There is a lot of need and the key is for our clinics to communicate to make sure we aren't going to the same sites," she said.
Washington Regional's mobile clinic cost more than $520,000 and has two complete exam spaces and an on-site digital X-ray machine, said Larry Shackelford, Washington Regional's senior vice president of outreach services.
Dr. Jamie Moore is the primary dentist and will travel with the mobile clinic about 250 days per year.
The Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners' regulations allow the mobile unit to travel within a 50-mile radius of the home based dental practice. Dr. Harvey Smith, a longtime Northwest Arkansas dentist, is providing the home base for the practice and helped secure licenses with the dental board.
Shackelford said Washington Regional so far is partnering with community nonprofit sites including 7 Hills Homeless Center and LifeSource International in Fayetteville, Samaritan Community Center in Rogers and ECHO Clinic in Eureka Springs.
"This fully equipped dental clinic works with host sites to provide cleaning, filling of cavities and extractions, focusing initially on relief of pain and ultimately on improved education regarding oral hygiene and oral health," he said.
Karen Parker, senior manager at the Walmart Foundation said the goal is to "serve as a dental home for many in Northwest Arkansas." A dental home is the ongoing, comprehensive relationship between a dentist and patient.
"Years ago we started meeting with nonprofits about gaps in care, and dental kept rising to the top," she said.
Legwork on the clinic started following the 2008 148-page Community Indicator Study led by Kevin Fitzpatrick, a University of Arkansas sociologist.
Fitzpatrick said the Walmart Foundation asked him to identify Northwest Arkansas' most pressing issues and he came up with a lack of transportation, lack of access to health care and poverty.
"I said I think we need mobile health care and we spent the next 18 months talking about this," he said. "What we finished with was the need for dental care."
The next step was finding a medical partner and Fitzpatrick said all the dentists he asked said no. He got the idea of partnering with a hospital following a national dental health program in Las Vegas.
"Washington Regional Medical Center in 2010 had over 900 emergency admissions from poor dental care," he said. "When you start putting dollar signs next to these admission, people really pay attention."
Shackelford said when a patient goes to the emergency room with tooth pain there are two option: extraction or medication.
"This opens up so many more options," he said.
Washington Regional does not have plans to open any additional dental facilities, Shackelford said. The medical system operates 22 clinics in Northwest Arkansas.
Mercy rolled out a mobile health clinic in July that is equipped to provide mammography and cardiovascular screenings, as well as blood draws, education and charity care.
NW News on 09/09/2014