This year, the mobile dental clinic is expected to serve 1,800 people. Although an increasing number of children are being served, the clinic is receiving more requests to help the elderly.
Since 2003, the Northwest Community Mobile Dental Clinic has been delivering dental care to those in financial need in the townships of Elk Grove, Palatine, and Wheeling, near Chicago. Ron Buch, executive director of Community Health and Outreach at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois, shares some lessons learned after three years of operating its mobile dental clinic.
Recruiting dentists
Forming a community dental advisory group early has been important to the success of the program. An advisory group is made up of local dentists who provide clinical oversight and help recruit other volunteer dentists. Mr. Buch advises new program planners to start by contacting local dental societies or identifying a high-profile community outreach dentist who is active in business and community groups. The outreach program asks dentists to give a half or full day once every other month, or once every three months.
“We also have found working with a local dental hygiene association very fruitful. Dental hygienists tend to ‘get’ public health better because they are concerned with prevention,” said Mr. Buch. “It’s not uncommon for a dental hygienist to recruit her dentist.”
The outreach program at Northwest Community Hospital is partnered with the University of Illinois School of Dentistry and Harper College Dental Hygiene Program.
Administrative cost savings
To access care to the mobile dental clinic, potential patients must live in a designated township and meet certain financial criteria. . Financial screenings are conducted by each township because most patients are already in the system and receiving local financial assistance.
“Partnering early with the townships helps us to better address both the needs of the township and those of the mobile dental clinic,” said Mr. Buch. “There are real administrative cost savings, and it helps with patient scheduling.”
Digital makes a difference
“Going digital made a big difference,” said Mr. Buch. Dentists are able to rotate images of teeth, and increase the image size for better diagnosis. Patient education is delivered via DVD.
Feedback from dentists is positive. Many of them wish they could have such advanced systems in their own offices. Electronic charts allow for better quality and ease of reporting. Clear and well-organized reports are a must when communicating results to funding sources.
The vehicle was built by LifeLine Mobile Inc., a specialty medical and dental vehicle manufacturer, based in Ohio.
“We spent more money than we first anticipated on our LifeLine vehicle, but it has paid off in spades,” said Mr. Buch. “It’s easy to maintain. We chose LifeLine because of the design of the vehicle and quality of the equipment. All systems were a notch above other things we had seen.”
The Future
This year, the mobile dental clinic is expected to serve 1,800 people. Although an increasing number of children are being served, the clinic is receiving more requests to help the elderly.
“Nursing homes are requesting dental service. We want to respond to that need, but we don’t yet have funds to provide dentures, which is a serious problem, explains Mr. Buch. “Both nursing home management and primary care physicians are telling us that those people don’t have teeth they need to help them eat, so it becomes a nutrition issue. We are hoping to find such funding soon.”
The mobile dental unit is part of a larger medical outreach program operated by Northwest Community Hospital. Future plans are for a fixed dental site to be built into an existing community medical clinic. Patients needing complex and time-intensive procedures will be served at the fixed site, thereby allowing the mobile dental clinic to serve a greater number of patients.
More about Northwest Community Healthcare’s outreach program, and contact information can be found on their website: http://www.nch.org/communityresources/dental.shtml
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