Traveling Dental Clinic
With dental care costs rising and many unable to qualify for dental insurance or dental plans, more and more people are visiting a dental clinic to take care of their dental needs and the dental needs of their children. A dental clinic can be a stationary building or a dental lab on wheels.
Many medical and dental school universities offer mobile dental clinics for those in a community who can’t afford to make regular appointments with a ‘regular’ dentist. Many people are unable to acquire dental insurance or coverage by dental plans if their employers don’t offer such benefits. A dental clinic attempts to address the needs of thousands of children a year through such mobile clinics. In many parts of the United States, the average earning income for a family of four is around $30,000 a year. The luxury of regular dental visits on that kind of income is nothing but a wishful dream for those families.
Many County Social Services departments have a mobile dental clinic in their community, which offers free or close to free dental services for those who can show need. In addition, many small communities don’t even have a dentist, and for those without transportation, getting to one is as difficult as paying for one. Many ‘regular’ dentists don’t accept Medicaid, which leaves many without options.
While for some, a dental clinic can roll into town on wheels, for others a dental clinic can be found within the County Health Services department during certain times of the year. In a mobile dental clinic, regular dental services such as x-rays, teeth cleaning, plaque removal, cavity fillings and other more serious dental needs are taken care of, many times by dentists and technicians who are volunteering their time and expertise to provide a very real service for their communities.
Because mobile dental clinics are small, and many smaller mobile dental clinics only have one or two dental chairs at most, only around 3,000 to 4,000 children a year can be seen, but a dental clinic can be a larger version with three or four dental chairs, sometimes more. Staffing for a mobile dental clinic can also be difficult, especially when the people staffing it are volunteering their time. Still, the amount of children being seen is better than none.
Most dental clinics operate from proceeds of government grants or donations from generous taxpayers. While on most occasions, a mobile dental clinic is geared toward providing dental care and maintenance for children, adults can also use their services. Most mobile dental clinics make the rounds of county school districts, sometimes staying at a school from two to four weeks depending on need.
Children from the school are seen first, then children from the neighborhood, and then adults. Many parents feel embarrassed to make appointments for their children at the free mobile dental clinic, but with the expenses of dental care and lack of insurance, few are left with any other option. The important thing is not to let pride stand in the way of qualified dental care, and a mobile dental clinic can fill those needs.
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