Free dental clinic brightens smiles of the uninsured

DURHAM -- ******

CORRECTION

A front-page story in Saturday's paper about a new dental school at East Carolina University listed the incorrect opening date. The school will open in 2011.

****** Brisco Swain hadn't seen a dentist in at least four years and had a mouthful of trouble.

So the out-of-work nursing assistant got in line at 3:15 a.m. Friday to get three teeth pulled at a free dental clinic run by the N.C. Dental Society. Today, he'll show up even earlier for two more false teeth to plug the gap in his smile.

"It's worth it to me to come here at 12 in the morning to get two teeth put in," said Swain, 49, of Raleigh. "They need to have this more often."

When Swain arrived in the wee hours Friday, at least 70 people were already in line. The clinic, which continues today at the National Guard Armory on Stadium Drive, is one of 12 planned this year by the N.C. Missions of Mercy, an affiliate of the N.C. Dental Society. It treated about 650 people Friday.

At a time when people are losing jobs and health benefits, turnout for these clinics has spiked, said Alec Parker, the dental society's executive director.

Last year, volunteers provided free dental care valued at more than $2 million to 5,300 patients, 25 percent to 30 percent more than the previous year, Parker said. This year, the project expects to serve at least 6,000 patients, including at least 1,000 this week in Durham.

The huge turnout illustrates that many people can't get decent health care, can't afford it or choose not to pay for it, said Gary Rozier, a UNC-Chapel Hill health policy and management professor.

"We just don't have enough dentists in the state," Rozier said. "It seems whenever someone sets up a clinic, they're overwhelmed. Access is difficult for a lot of people."

This week's clinic is staffed by about 80 dentists and 400 more volunteers doing basic examinations, X-rays, cleanings, restorations and extractions. It opened at 6 a.m. Friday, and within four hours, organizers were turning people away.

Dentist is among first to go

When money gets tight, dental care is often one of the first things trimmed from families' budgets, particularly if they have lost health benefits, experts say.

"It's still viewed, within the scope of medical care, as elective until it's an emergency," said Rick Mumford, a professor with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry and director of its Dentistry in Service to Communities program. "But we have so many tools in our bag that are preventative, that work. It's hard to change that mind-set."

Geneva Cash last had a teeth cleaning when she was 16. She's now 25, the mother of two with a third on the way, and has no insurance because her husband, Jody, a self-employed plumber in Durham, can't afford it.

Geneva got her teeth cleaned at the clinic Friday, while Jody had six teeth extracted. Even when dental issues arise, the family hesitates to pay for treatment, Geneva Cash said. She broke a tooth five years ago and paid $600 to have it fixed - an experience she'd like to avoid in the future.

"It cost me so much I wish I'd took the pliers and done it myself," she said.

There are no other free clinics scheduled this year in the Triangle. The dental society focuses on the rural parts of the state - east of Interstate 95 and west of Interstate 77 - where the need is greatest, Parker said. Four of the state's counties - Gates, Camden, Hyde and Tyrell, all in the east - have no practicing dentists, Mumford said. There hasn't been a practicing dentist in Camden, Hyde and Tyrell county since 1989, he added.

UNC-CH, where the state's only dental school is based, turns out about 80 dentists a year. A second dental school is slated to open in 2012 at East Carolina University.

Uninsured Americans would get dental coverage along with medical insurance under reform proposals currently under consideration, said Rozier, the UNC-CH health policy expert.

On Friday, Tammy Watts, 46, drove down from Oxford to get two cavities filled, arriving at 3:45 a.m. with a cooler of food and bottled water. She hasn't been insured since losing her job more than a year ago.

But even with her previous insurance, the three fillings would have cost $600, she said.

"I've been living with pain," she said. "You deal with it until you can afford it."