Dental clinic available

Low-cost care option opens in White Plains

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Charles County Department of Health began seeing patients 6 months to 18 years old at a new dental clinic set up inside the health department building in White Plains on Monday, said Bill Leebel, health department spokesman. So far, 12 pediatric patients have been seen by a dental fellow from the University of Maryland.

The clinic, which also has two dental assistants, offers a range of pediatric dental services, including cleaning, X-rays, exams, the application of dental sealants and fluoride, and restorative services, such as filling cavities and tooth extractions, said Erin Piskura, the health department’s oral health educator.

The clinic is also offering children who qualify urgent dental care, Piskura said.

Families who live in Charles County and who have children enrolled in Medicaid and the Maryland Children’s Health Program are eligible to be seen at the dental clinic, Piskura said, adding that payment for care is based on a sliding scale depending on the family’s annual income.

The financial cutoff for families who might qualify for the dental program is higher than one might suspect, Piskura said.

For example, a family of four who earns $63,600 a year could be eligible for pediatric dental services at the health department clinic.

There are about 6,000 youngsters between 2 and 20 who are in need of some sort of dental service in Charles County, Piskura said, adding that the uninsured and underinsured who do not receive state assistance can also be seen at the clinic.

‘‘We won’t deny dental service to anyone based on their ability to pay,” she said.

Eventually, the county hopes to see between 14 and 16 pediatric patients weekly between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Piskura said.

‘‘We have a really large rural population in this county,” she said. ‘‘It’s very difficult for people to access dental resources, particularly in the western part of the county. There are children who have years and years of unmet dental needs that are going into middle school. There are a lot of children out there who have really significant needs.”

Piskura said that she travels to schools in the county if invited to talk to kids about dental care.

Dressed as the tooth fairy, she said she arrives laden with free toothbrushes and lots of facts about why children should take good care of their teeth.

Piskura also works with parent groups, shows up for story times at the branches of the Charles County Public Library system and provides outreach services to the Charles County Department of Social Services in La Plata.

The program and the refitting of two offices in the health department for the dental clinic were made possible by a variety of funding sources, Piskura said, adding a total of $400,000 in state grants and county funding helped to get the clinic off the ground.

The county decided to open the clinic after learning of the results of a health department and Civista Medical Center health needs assessment done in 2006 by an independent company to identify problems in the county’s health care system, Leebel said in a recent interview.

The assessment revealed that low-income residents cannot afford to see a dentist, sometimes even when an emergency dental situation arises.

More than 5 million school hours nationwide are lost each year due to dental-related illnesses, including gum disease that has been linked to heart disease, premature births and low birth weight babies, Leebel said.

Pediatric dental care is critical in preventing tooth decay, gum infections and, in some cases, loss of life, according to dental health officials.

The situation really came into focus when a 12-year-old Prince George’s County boy died last year from the complications of a tooth abscess after bacteria from the infection spread to his brain.

The Health Partners Clinic in Waldorf — established in 1992 by Sister Michaeleen Frieders and Sister Gladys Marie Martin to serve the uninsured and underinsured in the county — opened a pediatric dental clinic last fall to try to address the problem, but the need is still great, Leebel said.

‘‘Southern Maryland and Baltimore city are the two areas in Maryland that have the greatest need for dental services,” he said.

‘‘That’s what prompted the county to seek funds to open this clinic.”