Nearly 40% of U.S. adults have not had a check up with their dentist this year. NorthShore Health Center is taking initiative to bring these numbers down for the state of Indiana. With funds from a Delta Dental Foundation grant, they were able to bring in ten mothers for a dental cleaning and awareness of other NorthShore services.
The September 15th Dental Day was for mothers who were on Medicaid during their pregnancies but were taken off of it after. A lot of patients fall into a financial gray area when it comes to coverage. HIP 2.0 covers dental but not everyone qualifies for the program. Others just may not know about it.
Dr. Roger Shieh said, “It helps to show that there are resources in the community that make access to care a lot easier, so there’s no excuse.”
While insufficient funds is the most common reason to not get medical attention, childcare is a close second. NorthShore took care of that too, by setting up a play center in one of their conference rooms. Staff took turns watching children while their mothers met with the dentist.
“That’s what we were excited about,” said Sabrina Riddleberger, a Dental Manager for NorthShore, “Having someone to watch the kids so the moms don’t have to worry for that hour.”
“I think it’s awesome,” said patient Jessica Qaos. “I know dental work is expensive and I don’t have insurance so I haven’t been in for two years. It makes me feel better to know [my teeth] are getting cleaned and checked on.”
The price of her exam was paid for by a grant NorthShore applied for last year. Delta Dental Foundation gives grants to organizations who provide dental care for the underserved. NorthShore was awarded $2,500 to go toward their uninsured mothers.
“We’re trying to stretch it out as much as we can, so we can help as many people as we can,” said Family Care Coordinator Jackie Hogan. “If we have any extra, we’re going to see if we can extend it to the mother’s who needed more than just a cleaning.”
The original plan was designed to serve ten women but they suspected they would have funds left over, even with the goody bags of dental supplies and information that they gave out to each patient. Riddleberger tried to schedule as many women as she could, a feat that was harder than you would think.
“A lot of the time,” she said, “When people see free, it seems too good to be true. Even when I made the appointments they asked me again. Sometimes people just need a little push.”
For a lot of uninsured people, oral health gets pushed to the back of the priorities list instead of getting the attention it deserves.
Dr. Shieh said, “The mouth is just as important as any other part of the body. Studies show that things that happen in other parts of the body have a direct correlation with your dental health.”
Hogan agreed. “We’re trying to keep up with the preventative so that we don’t end up with problems that could have been prevented. The point of this day is to give moms no excuse-- they often don’t take care of themselves because they are too busy taking care of everyone else.”
