Hot off the Presses!

It's been eight days now since we treated our 10,000th patient through the mobile dental program, and we were thrilled so many news outlets in the Oklahoma City Metro were interested in covering our milestone!

Reporters from KOCO, KFOR, KWTV, Telemundo and Journal Record were all in attendance and did a great job in capturing our program and the day's special occasion. Below are a few of the published articles.

Article from The Journal Record - Published September 7

Mobile dental unit serves 10,000th patient

By Sarah Terry-Cobo

OKLAHOMA CITY – Dafne Soto had molars extracted in the parking lot of the Latino Community Development Agency on Thursday. The 8-year-old was the 10,000th patient seen in the Oklahoma Dental Foundation’s mobile unit,  a converted recreational vehicle.

Bernice Saldana, Soto’s mother, had noticed her daughter’s cavities, but said she didn’t have dental insurance to cover the necessary treatment.

“This is a great help for us,” Saldana said in Spanish.

Saldanda’s 4-year-old son, Ricardo, was also treated at the mobile clinic on Thursday.

The Soto children are among thousands of people living in the metro area who aren’t covered by dental insurance.

Saldana said she is glad she can bring her children to get free dental care, saving her family hundreds of dollars. Even though there are 449 dentists licensed to work in Oklahoma City and 664 licensed to work in Oklahoma County, John Gladden, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Oklahoma, said many residents lack access to dental care, not just those who live in rural areas.

“It wouldn’t matter if there was a dentist on every corner,” he said. “If parents don’t take their children, they won’t go.”

Delta Dental of Oklahoma Oral Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization, has donated about $250,000 for the creation of the mobile dental unit, which has been in operation since 2006.

John Wilguess, executive director of the Oklahoma Dental Foundation, said that the majority of their patients have low incomes. In 2011, nearly a third of patients had a household income of $10,000 or less and about 70 percent had a household income of less than $20,000. Only 35 percent of the patients said they qualified for Medicaid, Wilguess said.

The need for the mobile dental unit is so great in the state that the Oklahoma Dental Foundation’s board has approved the purchase od a new unit tha tiwll be custom-built. Having a second unit that can travel from town to town will allow the original unit to stay in one place for several days, Wilguess said. That will allow dentists to perform follow-up visits on their patients, which are often necessary, he said. 

Article from Edmond Life & Leisure - Published September 13

Dentist from Edmomd part of Milestone

Helping the 10,000th patient

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Dental Foundation Mobile Dental Unit has provided free dental care to more than 10,000 patients as of Sept. 6. Dafne Soto, 8, of Oklahoma City was the honored 10,000th patient served on the mobile unit as it made a stop at the Latino Community Development Agency. Soto was one of eight children and youth who had an appointment for needed dental care Thursday.

The mobile dental unit travels across the state each year as part of ODF’s Mobile Dental Care Program.

“She didn’t know she was going to be the 10,000th patient,” said Berenice Saldana, Soto’s mother. “It was a surprise, but she’s happy. She enjoyed it.”

Saldana said her daughter needed care for cavities that were causing her back teeth to crumble, but Saldana is a single mother of three children and does not have insurance.

“It is very beneficial for my family to be able to come here and receive free care on the mobile dental unit,” Saldana said.

 The Oklahoma Dental Foundation began the mobile dental care program in 2006 using volunteer dentists. Since that time, Delta Dental of Oklahoma Oral Health Foundation has supported the program with nearly $1 million in grants. Part of that funding has allowed the program to double its reach by paying for contract dentists to go to rural areas where access to care is especially low and to provide services during weekdays when volunteers are unavailable.

 “When I first began treating dental patients on the mobile unit, I thought the cost of dental care was the only barrier,” said Jeannie Bath, the dentist on site Sept. 6. “But driving out to a rural site, I think of our patients driving those same long, lonely Oklahoma roads back toward town for their needed dental care. 

“Having the ability to address urgent and potential emergency infections on the mobile dental unit, allows us to prevent patients without a dentist from seeking temporary relief for that infection in the ER.”