subject: Families In Need Can Now Receive Affordable Dental Services [print this page] With a big smile on her face, a young black haired woman sat by herself in the small waiting room of the dental clinic. There was only one dental chair inside the clinic, and it was occupied by a middle aged woman whose teeth were being observed by a young dentist. Had it not been for the low cost services provided by the clinic, she would never have been able to get any affordable dental care.
For 43 years, the dental clinic which is a project of a private non profit organization has been in operation. For many years, the clinic operated a health clinic for pregnant women and infants in the organization's building. They also provided dental care for children at the clinic. Through private donations, the operation of the clinic funded, most especially through the foundation that one woman left us in her will. A year ago, when the foundation was depleted, we reexamined our services and found that a lot of them were being duplicated by other agencies. Since the services were not receiving any funding anymore, the clinic closed.
After some research, they realized that dental needs for low income people were being neglected, so they chose to rent the main building and remodel the garage. The organization collected donations amounting to $10,000 to convert what used to be a garage into a small dental office. The used equipment for the office had already been provided for by dentists for the dental clinic before.
Interviewing the prospective patients helps them decide who are deserving of low cost care. The clinic avoids competing with other dentists, and will reject those who can afford private dental care. With the help of a sliding scale, the clinic can decide who can use the clinic's services and how much the clinic should charge them. How much a person makes and how many are in his family determines the fee scale.
If a family consisting of four members earns a monthly income of $1,000 or more, the family is not eligible for clinic services. For that same family to receive $8 dental examination for its members, their monthly income should be from $800 to $1,000. Those families that earn only $800 a month are charged an examination fee of $5. An average of $15 to $20 is spent by people who go to private Santa Fe dentists for examinations.
You can really tell that some patients, especially those in their 40's and 50's, didn't receive much dental care before. The clinic's patients consist mainly of children. Clinic dentists treated kids who were eligible for federally funded county special programs early in the winter. One program covers the cost of all or most clinic fees.
Presently the clinic schedules about 20 patients a week, but its dentists could handle many more. Since many patients failed to keep their appointments with their dentists, the secretary decided not to include specific times when they were supposed to show up, but she just gave the specific days. Patients are seen by the dentists on a first come, first served basis on the particular day of their appointment. We instruct every person who comes in how to take good care of their teeth. Patients who don't use toothbrushes and dental floss are supplied with these things by the clinic. The teeth of these patients will look much better when they come back for their next appointment.
