Samaritan Clinic unveiled its new dental offices at the Jackson Street location last week.
With recently hired dental services coordinator Lynn Chavez, a registered dental hygienist, the on-site clinic has been taking patients for about three weeks, said Kelly Hines, executive director of Samaritan Clinic.
The new offices are an expansion of the dental program the clinic has been offering at the Central Education Center since 2013, she said.
The clinic first started its dental care program because it saw a need, Hines said. Whenever the clinic accepts a new patient, the doctors do a head-to-toe assessment, she said.
“Dr. (Kay) Crosby, our medical director, she always says, ‘There’s not a mouth that I look in that doesn’t need some sort of dental assistance,’” Hines said.
Many studies have shown that dental health is directly tied to overall health and wellness. So when a patient comes in with an abscess or some other dental problem, it was important to be able to offer them some assistance, she said.
They worked with West Georgia Technical College and the CEC to create the dental program. The labs, which are full of students all day, are opened to the Samaritan Clinic patients on designated evenings, with those students along with volunteer dentists providing care.
“We’ve done dental clinics two to four nights a month every year since then, and it just hasn’t met the need,” Hines said.
More than two years ago, after brainstorming about the problem, the board and staff began eyeing the unused and underused offices at the clinic on Jackson Street as possible dental offices. It seemed like the perfect solution. The patients were already comfortable coming to the clinic, Hines said.
A capital fundraising campaign to renovate the Jackson Street clinic included about $300,000 to convert those offices for dental care.
In addition to the money, the clinic also received donated equipment for the new offices, including a digital panoramic X-ray from a local pediatric dentist who upgraded his equipment, Hines said.
“This is still functional and usable, and he wanted to give it to us,” she said. “This is something that we would have had to pay $15,000 to $20,000 for, had we bought it, maybe even more. So this was incredible for us.”
Dr. Tom Moynahan, whom Hines calls the clinic’s dental champion, has been volunteering for the clinic for years.
“We’re going to do everything except the specialized (dentistry),” Moynahan said. “No orthodontics, of course, or root canals or things like that, but just general restorative dentistry, oral surgery, extractions and hygiene periodontal cleanings and things like that.”
They do have other options if someone does need a root canal, he added. They just won’t be able to do it at the clinic.
“We’re limited with our volunteers on what we can get done,” Moynahan said. “We have to take it one step at a time.”
The new bright and well-equipped dental rooms at the clinic he believes will entice more dentists to volunteer, and once they volunteer, he knows they’ll come back, Moynahan said.
“We can give the best dentistry to our patients as well as make it enjoyable if you’re volunteering,” he said. “Hopefully, build it and they will come. We’re going to have a nice facility. We’re going to have more and more volunteers, because when you do start volunteering, it’s such a great feeling.”
Any primary care patient at the Samaritan Clinic can access the dental program, Hines said. To become a patient, contact the clinic at 770-683-5272 and select option three. There are eligibility requirements including income, residency and age to become a primary care patient at the clinic.
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