Free dental clinic in N.C. today draws hundreds

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.

In the wee hours, they lined up by the hundreds outside the Dare County Youth and Recreation Park. Some even camped out overnight to secure their place.

All to go to the dentist.

The free dental clinic attracted as many as 600 people on Friday, who were seeking care from about 150 volunteer dentists and hygienists. It was hosted by the Dare County Department of Public Health and the North Carolina Dental Society.

A second clinic is scheduled today, with about the same number expected to wait for help on a first-come, first-served basis.

"The need is great," said Chapel Hill dentist Keith Taylor, a regular volunteer with the Missions of Mercy dental program. "There's well over 1-1/2 million people in this state that absolutely cannot afford the basic dental services."

As Taylor talked, rows of patients leaned back inside the recreation center having their teeth cleaned, filled or extracted. Others sat on bleachers, awaiting their turn.

Many of the people who come to the free clinics are in discomfort from gum disease, abscesses or severe cavities, Taylor said.

"In general, we probably do three times as many extractions as we do fillings because pain is a great motivator," Taylor said. "When people are in pain, they want to be seen."

Comments left by patients were overwhelmingly grateful. "I could not have had this cavity fixed if you had not come," a note signed by Andrea Baumann read.

The North Carolina Missions of Mercy program was launched by the Dental Society in 2003, based on a model begun in 1999 in Southwest Virginia by Terry Dickinson, a Richmond dentist.

From 2003 through 2008, 60 weekend clinics have been hosted by Missions of Mercy through out the state, treating more than 17,000 uninsured or under-insured people and providing $5 million worth of services, said Suellen Foust, a volunteer with the Dental Society.

So far this year, about 2,400 patients have received a total of about $1 million in care, she said.

Dickinson, a dentist for 42 years, said that dental care is often the most neglected aspect of health care, but it also has a significant impact on overall health. Inflammatory processes, for instance, can be exacerbated by gum disease.

"So many of these people not only haven't seen a dentist in years, they haven't seen a physician in years," he said at the Kill Devil Hills clinic. It's not unusual, he said, for patients not to be aware they had diabetes or hypertension that was diagnosed in the clinic screening.

"Somehow, we must get in there and rebuild our public health system," he said.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com