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Posted on March 04, 2011 09:00
Community Connections:
Dakota Smiles Is Coming To Town
BY PAM KETTERING
United Way & Volunteer Services of Greater Yankton
Published: Wednesday, March 2, 2011 10:35 PM CST
The Dakota Smiles Program will be rolling into Yankton the last week of March, for the fifth year, to peer into the mouths of children ages newborn through twenty-one. As stated in the program’s newsletter, “The Smile Mobile is a fully equipped, state of the art dental office on wheels.” No child is turned away for inability to pay. It provides dental care and oral health education. Registration forms are to be completed and returned to United Way & Volunteer Services by Wednesday, March 16th.
As written in the program’s newsletter, the program is designed for children that have not seen a dentist in two years or cannot afford the expense of dental care. Most of the families without dental insurance can be described as ‘working poor’. Many of the children seen by the program have at one time been covered by Medicaid. Although families are able to get off government programs with just slight increases in their income, the cost of dental care is beyond their means.
Also stated in the newsletter is that nationwide, dental disease is the most prevalent childhood illness, according to a government report. Poor children are the most vulnerable. Untreated dental disease can hurt children’s ability to learn, focus, speak, chew, eat, and even grow properly. Tooth decay is a leading cause for students missing school. According to a South Dakota Department of Health survey, one third of South Dakota’s third grade children have untreated dental decay. Six percent of those children need urgent dental care because of pain or infection.
Witnessing the Smile Mobile staff work their magic on various ages and sizes of youth is an amazing sight. Frightened, clinging children hesitantly step into a room, lie down on the reclining chair and get their teeth cleaned. Then they take another walk to the big colorful bus for their first visit to the dentist. After the dentist checks them over and starts treatment, they descend the steps with a smile, a new toothbrush, toys, and lots of ideas on how and why to care for their teeth.
One girl was referred to the program by her teacher. She was very quiet, seldom mingled with other students, and rarely smiled. The first day she had her teeth cleaned, was examined by the dentist and was scheduled to return to the Smile Mobile every day in order to complete the necessary dental work. By the end of the week a transformation had taken place. The teacher reported the student could not stop smiling. She was no longer embarrassed by the appearance of her teeth.
When the patients realize that they no longer have pain after an abscessed tooth is treated, their attitude about seeing a dentist has a quick adjustment. The state wide program has seen such situations almost every week! Some of the children have such severely infected mouths that an antibiotic prescription is needed before the dentist can begin treatment.
Last year when working in Yankton, the Smiles Mobile staff saw 37 patients of which 11 had been previously been seen in the program. When surveyed, 86% of the patients brushed daily with 24% in pain, 78% had been immunized, 5% were diagnosed with a mental disorder, 5 % had asthma, and 3% had chronic ear infections. It was the first dental visit for 14% of the patients with 38% being covered by Medicaid or SCHIP.
After their week-long visit, the report showed that 70% of the patients were treated for decay with 8% of all teeth examined and treated had decay. The 37 patients totaled 91 times in the dental chair totaling a production value of $13,909. Yankton community’s support to the United Way & Volunteer Services received a huge “bang for their buck”! The cost to bring the Smile Mobile to our community last year was and remains at $2,500. Thank you for making this “smiling” program possible.
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