Dental Assistance Programs

Posted on January 3, 2013 by admin

• Dental clinic offers affordable relief for Medicaid users, uninsured, By Pia Hallenberg, January 3, 2013, The Spokesman-Review: “The quiet at the Riverstone Family Dental Clinic on a recent Monday morning was like the quiet before a storm. At least that’s what the people behind the IDEA Clinic, located at Riverstone Family Health Center at the Northeast Community Center, were hoping. ‘There will be more patients this afternoon,’ said Dr. John Wesley, IDEA Clinic director. ‘But, yes, we need to get some cheeks in the seats.’ IDEA stands for Inland Dental Expanded Access Clinic, a clinic for uninsured or underinsured patients staffed by volunteer dentists, and it opens this month. Wesley has been there since November, and the clinic is so new it still smells more like paint than dental office…”
• Ohio clinic tackles Appalachian dental needs, underscoring a top unmet health need in state, By Misti Crane, January 2, 2013, Toledo Blade: “Ohio — Some of the adult patients at the Southeastern Ohio Dental Clinic didn’t see a dentist once during childhood. Children as young as 5 have had to have all their baby teeth pulled. Patients in their 20s sometimes need dentures.Often they only go to the clinic because the pain won’t relent and keeps them from sleeping or working. The Marietta clinic is run by the Washington County Health Department and is a rarity in Appalachia: a dentist’s office that cares for Medicaid patients and those with no insurance who pay on a sliding scale according to income.For most of them, that means about $30 an appointment, office manager Karita Miller said. It is considered a shining example of good in a region that is home to many without the money and resources to take care of their teeth.These problems aren’t unique to one region of the state.Dental care is the top unmet health need in Ohio. The problems are amplified in Appalachia, where children have an almost 60 percent higher rate of tooth decay and about half of working-age adults don’t have dental insurance…”
• Children’s Hospital assists families with low-cost health insurance, January 2, 2013, Crestview News Bulletin: “Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart is helping families enroll their children in low-cost health insurance through Florida KidCare. Sacred Heart will provide personal assistance to parents, grandparents and guardians in understanding their options and assisting them to enroll in the Florida KidCare program. A community health worker is available to help families in Okaloosa and Walton counties. Florida ranks third in the U.S. for the number of uninsured children, with more than 500,000 young lives without coverage…”