By Kimberly Sherman

A recent trip to the school cafeteria was filling for a local 14-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, but not because of the lunchroom special. The two had cavities in nearly 80% of their teeth and were in dire need of permanent molar extractions. They were treated to high-quality care by students of the USC dental program, through its world-renowned mobile dental clinic.

Pioneered in 1968, the USC mobile dental clinic has evolved from offering free dentistry to passersby on the occasional weekend outing into a more structured setting with a fleet of six Winnebago and fifth-wheel trailers. Four of the trailers house a total of fifteen dental chairs, one serves as the central sterilization center and the final is the fuel truck, providing generators to the rest of the fleet.

Currently, USC visits ten to twelve locations each year, including Bakersfield, San Diego, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo and, most close to home, Visalia.

For the past fifteen years, USC and Visalia Unified School District, in cooperation with Kaweah Delta Hospital, have collaborated to carry out critical care of more than 100 students in need of elaborate dental work, generally totaling over $1,000 per child, all at no cost to the children’s families.

Not Just Patients

Santosh Sundaresan, DDS, is the Director of the USC mobile dental clinic and Assistant Professor of clinical dentistry at USC. Not only does he oversee the care of children receiving services, he serves as mentor to USC dental students, providing them with both an intense clinical experience and life lessons.

“These aren’t just patients. We treat them as if they’re one of us,” said Sundaresan. “The senior dental students doing the work are there to serve, not just as a dentist, but as a model of the community.”

Lack of grant money broke the fourteen-year mobile clinic run in Visalia last year, so this year the Samaritan Center stepped in with the funding to bring USC back to Visalia Unified School District’s chosen location, Ivanhoe Elementary School.

The school district liaison for the project, Lucinda Majdell-Awbrey, has been involved with the project since its inception. She helps oversee the planning involved in whittling down the list of dozens upon dozens of elementary school children in need of services to find the 100 students who demonstrate the direst need for intense dental care.

“When we first started, at least 50% of the students needed care. Now, it’s more like 20-30% need care,” said Majdell-Awbry. “The dental health of the children has improved. The children have been treated and don’t need in-depth care anymore. The dental piece that goes along with this is that parents get education on dental hygiene that’s passed on to younger siblings.”

A Collaborative Effort

After finding the funding for the upcoming year’s program, Kaweah Delta and Visalia Unified School District work together to reach out and find the school in most need. In years past, neighboring school districts have even been called upon to serve as the location of choice. After agreeing upon a date that works for all agencies and obtaining approval and support of the principal, the school nurse calls upon a local dentist willing to volunteer his or her efforts and give screenings. The Dental Society has been integral in this step of the process.

Each child is then slotted into categories based on the level of need, and those with the highest needs are selected to be involved in the USC mobile clinic.

After permission slips are signed, health histories are completed and any insurance needs are met, the school district hands the paperwork over to Kaweah Delta, which prepares the students’ charts for the incoming dentists. The clinic always begins on a Friday, and the paperwork is ready for the USC unit.

Sundaresan outlined his staff and students’ process, which provides the most streamlined, thorough care of the youngsters initially apprehensive of masked, gloved adults who want to poke around their sore mouths.

On Friday a core group of fifteen third- and fourth-year volunteer dental students makes up the mobile clinic staff. The staff sets up and plans treatment for all 100 kids.

Early on Saturday morning the mobile clinic staff transforms the cafeteria into a massive dental unit with twenty-five mobile dental chairs and all the necessary equipment. They clean all the children’s’ teeth and give them oral hygiene instructions. All the parents are in the waiting room and receive instruction on how to keep their teeth clean and how to help their kids do the same.

The following week, the USC students work twelve- to thirteen-hour days completing plans for each of the kids, some of whom are pulled out of school every day for an intense session of fillings or extractions.

Kaweah Delta Partnership

John Tyndal is the Community Outreach Director for Kaweah Delta. Aside from securing funding to run the clinic, he offers the USC mobile unit additional volunteers.

“During the clinic, Kaweah Delta provides support staff. Two secretaries serve as the point of entry into the cafeteria clinic. Parents report there to get their badges and paperwork for their child’s treatment,” he said. “This year we needed help with nurses on-site because some kids had extractions, and we want someone to monitor their bleeding.”

Tyndal says that the USC mobile unit has never been a part of Kaweah Delta’s budget. The Community Outreach department is responsible for obtaining funds. In previous years, several grants have been utilized; in years that the grants haven’t covered the cost, the Kaweah Delta Foundation has bridged the gap.

The Samaritan Center has already stepped up to partner with Kaweah Delta and fund the project for next year. Meanwhile, fundraising efforts are a top priority.

Sundaresan attributes the epidemic of poor oral hygiene to lack of education, lack of access to care and lack of insurance.

“The lack of education is cliché — ‘It’s baby teeth, they can deal with it, they’ll fall out,’” he said. “Most of these kids don’t have access to a dentist, and dental insurance is expensive. But oral health has improved because of what we’ve taught them; the parents know that value of what we’ve done, and educating them does seem to help.”

Sundaresan points out that oral health is essential, noting that, no matter one’s opinion on the recent healthcare overall passed in Congress, dental coverage was not at all mentioned in the bill, which is tragic.

“There’s a direct correlation between physical and oral health, directly related to a child’s education. Studies show that kids get better grades if they are healthy, both physically and orally,” he said. “Dental health is not an option. It’s someone’s right and should be on the same par as medical health for a healthier community.”

Just ask the kid who had eighteen cavities filled.

Sidebar

How You Can Help

The Samaritan Center will be focusing on fundraising efforts over the next year to prepare for the next USC mobile clinic, slated for spring 2012.

How You Can Be Helped

Part of the Samaritan Center’s involvement in the community includes volunteer dentistry services.

For more information, call:

The Samaritan Center: Sally Altamirano: 733-7331

Kaweah Delta Community Outreach: 624-2605

Pull-Quotes

“These aren’t just patients. We treat them as if they’re one of us.”

— Santosh Sundaresan, DDS

Director of the USC Mobile Dental Clinic

“When we first started, at least 50% of the students needed care. Now, it’s more like 20-30% need care.”

— Lucinda Majdell-Awbrey

Visalia Unified School District Liaison

“There’s a direct correlation between physical and oral health, directly related to a child’s education.”

— Santosh Sundaresan, DDS

Director of the USC Mobile Dental Clinic

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