'IT GOES FULL CIRCLE': New United Way dental clinic will address systemic lack of pediatric care in region
Apr. 22—TRAVERSE CITY — Children in America miss more school because of dental-related issues than for any other reason, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The United Way of Northwest Michigan is launching a new dental center — United We Smile — to try and change that.
Working alongside other local and statewide community partners, United Way of Northwest Michigan's Executive Director Seth Johnson said they will be partnering with the University of Michigan's School of Dentistry to have pre-doctoral students in their third or fourth year — who will be mentored and overseen by local dentists — provide care to children, pregnant women, those with cognitive disabilities and veterans in the area.
This past week, construction workers began renovations at the clinic's new location at Copper Ridge in Garfield Township.
Johnson said, based on their current timeline, they hope to be accepting patient appointments for the late summer and early fall at the latest, and they hope to be able to see around 60 patients a day.
Funding, partnerships for the project
The funding for the new center will be coming from Delta Dental Foundation and Delta Dental Corporate, in addition to an upcoming capital campaign.
"Once we get this up and running, we believe this is fully sustainable," Johnson said. "So this is not ongoing philanthropic support."
To date, Johnson said, they have raised approximately $1.5 million for United We Smile, and said the plan is for the capital campaign to close the quarter-of-a-million dollar gap they have left to fully fund the project.
The University of Michigan also will help with some of the costs by providing all of the transportation and housing for their students working at the center, he explained.
"We just looked at the University of Michigan and said, 'We have such a massive need to serve kids in this region, would you be willing to walk down this partnership with us?'" Johnson said. "They said 'Yes.' So, we are now in a multi-year agreement with them for their students to be up here providing this care."
Local professionals — including lead preceptor for the volunteer dentists, Phil Yancho, DDS — will serve as mentors and teachers for the U-M students.
In addition to graduate students, United We Smile also has partnered with Northwestern Michigan College to have their social work and dental-assistant students work as interns in the clinic, according to Johnson.
Lack of pediatric dental care in region
This new endeavor for the United Way came after months of data collection and research into what could most help children in the 10-county region of Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Manistee, Missaukee and Wexford.
United Way data show more than 62,626 children between the ages of newborn to 17 in that region. Roughly two-thirds of that number — or 44,184 — live in households barely able to make ends meet.
Data obtained from the United Way of Northwest Michigan states almost half of the children from the region are on Medicaid, and approximately 40% of children in Benzie and Manistee counties have never received dental care.
A statewide report from the United Way showed, before the pandemic, about 420,000 Medicaid-eligible children had never received a basic dental screening. The report noted that number is probably much higher now.
In Lansing, the systemic lack of access to pediatric dental care has not gone unnoticed.
Last August, House Bill 4223, which mandates dental screenings in kindergartens across the state, was enacted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
According to Johnson, if a child enters kindergarten with dental decay, that child is at high risk for not meeting the fourth-grade reading benchmark and that, in turn, is a high-risk indicator for not graduating high school on time.
"There are so many kids in this region who have never had an appointment, whose families can't afford it," Johnson said. "Most dental clinics in this region, one, don't specialize in kids, but, two, also don't take Medicaid."
In addition to serving children in the community, Johnson said they also thought about how the center would help teach dental students how to serve the next generation of patients who may need accommodations.
Some of the conditions they would learn how to accommodate include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, mobility issues, developmental disabilities or working with children who are under the age of 3.
"A big part of this program is training the next generation of dental providers to improve access to care for the future," United Way of Northwest Michigan's Director of Health Initiatives Jennifer Kerns said. "That way, our solution is a long-term solution, instead of just giving people the Band-Aid of free care."
How to solve the problem
The idea for this center came from asking a question: How to provide more dental care to meet the need here?
At first, Johnson said, they considered operating mobile clinics throughout the region. "But, there's only so much you can do in the back of a truck."
So, the idea was born for a brick-and-mortar clinic in Grand Traverse County that will share the space with the United Way office.
Within the center, the blueprints showed plans for a 3-D radiology X-ray room, eight dental chairs, a sound-proofed room where a patient can go if they are feeling overstimulated, and a community resource room that will have everything from baby blankets and tooth-fairy pillows to non-perishable food items and toothbrushes.
Kerns noted the center will be only the second location in Traverse City that will have a 3-D X-ray onsite.
The goal, Johnson said, is to open a world-class dental center with the best and newest dental and oral care technology.
For Kerns, serving underserved communities as a dental hygienist is nothing new.
Prior to her current role, Kerns said she worked for a different local public health center driving around in a dental van and backpacking into homeless encampments to provide free oral care.
"It was really hard, because you know, as a hygienist, I can only do so much," she said. "So, it was not full circle. I would see patients and do as much as I could, but then I was struggling finding dentists to take my patients, so they weren't getting the follow-up care."
One of the reasons Kerns said it was so difficult to find dentists who could perform that necessary follow-up care was the pandemic. She said there's still a backlog here of people who have yet to go back to the dentist since COVID-19.
"Waiting lists are really long," Kerns said. "So, just trying to get an appointment to a dentist takes a very long time."
In the Grand Traverse County region, Kerns said she heard Monday there is an average wait of nine months to get in to see a dentist. "That's way past when a tooth can be saveable," she said.
This center, she said, will ease that backlog.
Instead of a one-time visit type of place, United We Smile will instead serve as a "dental home" for all of its patients, Kerns said. That means patients will be able to get everything from routine check-ups and teeth cleanings to extractions, crowns, bridges, dentures, partial dentures, children's crowns and regular fillings.
"All of our procedures are going to be pretty much necessary, and not too much of the elective type," she noted.
Cavities are preventable, Kerns said. But now, after COVID-19, she said they are seeing more cavities than they ever have before.
"Some of it is the lack of being able to see a dentist, some of it is staying home and not having a routine and snacking," Kerns said. "So it's taken a toll, and the science in the dental industry has long proven that, if kids have cavities, they don't concentrate and stay in school."
By addressing this issue through the center, Kerns said, kids in the area should miss less school.
"So, it goes full circle with what United Way focuses on, which is health and education and financial stability for the family," she said. "Targeting all of those things is what we can do with this new dental clinic."
