Annual free dental clinic for children at San Juan College draws full house
FARMINGTON — Fridays are normally a day off for Travis Watson, a dentist at the Pinon Hills Dental clinic in Farmington, but on Feb. 3, he was experiencing anything but a leisurely day as made his way from one young patient to another at the 20th annual Give Kids a Smile free dental clinic at San Juan College.
As usual, the event, held in the college’s Health and Human Performance Center, drew a full house, with Julius Manz, director of the college’s dental hygiene program, estimating that a total of 50 to 60 patients would be seen over the course of the day. Those visitors were receiving free cleanings, X-rays, fillings and other dental services from the dental health professionals who volunteered their time and work.
Manz said eight dentists had volunteered to work the morning shift at the event and another six were scheduled to take part that afternoon. Watson was among those in the morning crew, and his face lit up when he described the satisfaction he gets from taking part in the event.
“I had one child last year, a little boy, who had four or five rampantly decaying teeth throughout his mouth,” he said. “We were able to get him out of pain and send him on his way. You just can just tell when someone’s in pain. Some of them even have abscesses, so it feels really good to be able to get them out of pain and send them back into the world functioning again.”
Since the Give Kids a Smile event is often the only dental work many of the young patients receive each year, Watson said he works hard to make sure the visit is a positive one for the children.
“We want to provide a great experience for these kids since, for a lot of them, it’s their first time,” he said. “We don’t want it to be traumatic. If it’s a fun experience, maybe they’ll come back to the dentist for the rest of their life.”
Most of the work done at the clinic is routine, Manz said. But, occasionally, the dentists and hygienists they work with discover a significant issue with a young patient that likely would have gone undetected, if not for the event.
During a clinic a few years ago, Manz said, routine X-rays revealed a cancerous growth in the mouth of a 7- or 8-year-old girl. Doctors later were able to remove the growth, and now the young patient is doing fine, he said.
“Those instances were you literally save someone’s life are a big deal,” Manz said.
The clinic also serves as a proving ground for the students enrolled in the dental hygiene program Manz oversees.
“The students get a tremendous amount out of this,” he said. “They find out what it’s like to work at a public event, and they get to spend a lot of time working with a potential employer, who has a whole day to work with them. So, for a lot of them, this is a chance to build an important relationship or give them a leg up on being hired.”
Gene Hilton, a dentist taking part in the clinic from Desert Hills Dental Care, echoed that.
“It’s become absolutely an integral part of their educational experience here,” he said, noting how those students see a higher volume of patients during the clinic than at any other time in their progression through the program.
Even for a veteran dentist like Hilton, who has volunteered at the Give Kids a Smile clinic for 16 years, the experience is extremely rewarding.
“You just remember some of them because they’re so darn cute,” he said of some of the patients he has treated over the years. “There was one kid I remember because he should have been on a magazine cover.”
And most of the young patients, apprehensive as they might be about seeing a dentist, handle the experience well, he said.
“We don’t have a lot of kids totally losing it,” he said, smiling. “Although, occasionally, someone does, and you can see the other kids looking around, wondering if they should join in.”
Hilton noted that dentistry is largely a solitary profession, with practitioners having few chances to associate with other dentists outside their practice. The Give Kids a Smile event offers them the chance to do so, he said.
“Most of us are isolated in our own practices,” he said. “We don’t see each other a lot, but this is a chance for us to get together and socialize.”
Jens Wilson, a pediatric dentist who has participated in events similar to Give Kids a Smile across the Southwest, said his impression is that the clinic fills a pressing need in San Juan County.
“It really makes a difference if you do something, anything,” he said. “If you can save just one tooth, you’re really helping a child’s growth and development.”
But earning the trust of a young patient who is not accustomed to sitting in a dentist’s chair can be challenge, he said.
“I can recognize those kinds of kids when they first come in, those behavior types,” he said, smiling. “The challenge is, can I even do work on them? But I love that part of it, especially if I can flip them. If you can teach them to have confidence in themselves and make a difference in their awareness so that they’re not so afraid of the dentist when they get older, you’ve done a good thing.”
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.
This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Dozens of young patients receive free cleanings, X-rays and more
