On the road with Dental Day VI

Left to right: Dean John Reinhardt, Andrea Hert, Kari Newcomb, Debra Barker, and Heidi Mihovk get ready to board the bus to Alliance. Photo by Peggy Cain.

For the first time students, faculty and staff from the UNMC College of Dentistry traveled 400 miles to bring their free dental clinic to children in western Nebraska. One hundred children from Alliance and Hemingford, Neb., received free dental treatment and education at Dental Day VI June 4 and 5 in Alliance.

At 4 p.m. on June 3, a tour bus rolled to a stop at the College of Dentistry in Lincoln, Neb., where dental and dental hygiene students gathered with their overnight bags packed.
Inside the college, carefully labeled storage tubs full of dental equipment, supplies and materials was ready to go, as were coolers filled with pop and Girl Scout cookies to make the 7-plus hour journey more pleasant. A fire-bucket brigade assembled to load all the supplies that would make Dental Day VI on the road possible.

Periodontic Postgraduate students Bryan Cochran, and Rhonda Preston, consult via videoconferencing from the College of Dentistry as Dennis Berens coordinator of the Office of Rural Health, Nebraska Health and Human Services System watches. Photo by Peggy Cain.

Meanwhile in the basement of the college and in a surgery suite at Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance, computer specialists and technicians worked together to ensure quality images for the tele-dentistry transmission scheduled for June 5. Children with severe dental needs would be treated in a surgery setting at the Alliance hospital with specialists in Lincoln watching electronically and offering input as needed.

“We have never been able to get any help for these kids out here because we are so far away,” said Donald “Cork” Taylor Jr., D.D.S. “When I shared with Dr. (David) Brown, (professor of oral biology and executive associate dean at the UNMC College of Dentistry), our interest in having students and faculty bring their Dental Day clinic to Alliance he said: ‘I don’t know how and I don’t know where I will get the funds, but I will come to Alliance.’ ”

Every dentist who practices in Box Butte County helped to provide free dental screenings in preparation for the event, Dr. Taylor said.

Videoconferencing equipment setup at Box Butte General Hospital. The patient is Sierra Jenkins. Photo by David Riggenbach.

To take Children’s Dental Day “on the road,” more than 70 faculty, staff and students transported 11 portable operatories, which include a patient chair, and all of the instruments used for comprehensive restorative care and cleanings, as well as all the supplies needed to provide fluoride treatments, sealants and cavity fillings.

This is the first time the College of Dentistry has taken its services to a rural community. Traditionally Dental Day clinics are held at the UNMC College of Dentistry in Lincoln. The event provides an opportunity to help underserved Nebraska children as well as allows dental and dental hygiene students the opportunity to gain clinical experience in a different environment.

Pediatric dentist and part-time clinical instructor Heidi Stark, of Lincoln, and Fouad Salama, associate professor and director of the UNMC COD Pediatric Dentistry Postgraduate program operate in a surgical suite of Box Butte General Hospital. Photo by David Riggenbach.

“Dental Day VI could not be done without the extraordinary support from the people of Alliance and Hemingford,” Dr. Brown said. “Nor would it have been possible without the efforts of Dr. Taylor who asked us to come to Alliance.”

“The value of care delivered at all five dental day events held by the UNMC
College of Dentistry to date totals $206,000,” Dr. Brown said. “The value of care we provided at Dental Day VI is estimated at $100,000.”

Dental students and faculty treated patients at four sites in town: Box Butte General Hospital, and at the private dental offices of Donald “Cork” Taylor Jr., D.D.S. and Paul Maxwell Jr., D.D.S., Gene Giles, D.D.S. and Justin Moody, D.D.S.

College of Dentistry senior dental student Rod Griffith talks with patient Sierra Jenkins. Photo by David Riggenbach.

Dentists who could not attend the event but who did provide advance dental screenings included Gary Christensen, D.D.S. and Sam Jacoby, D.D.S. Drs. Taylor, Maxwell, Christensen and Giles are graduates of UNMC’s College of Dentistry.

Dental hygiene students cleaned, sealed and performed fluoride treatments at the Burkholder Building in Alliance, where children and families dined on a complimentary hot dog lunch.

The children also were treated to a festival that featured educational games, movies and face painting.

“I am impressed that students and faculty from the College of Dentistry in Lincoln were willing to travel so far to serve the needs of western Nebraska’s underprivileged children,” Dr. Taylor said.

Alexis of Alliance smiles after playing games and receiving a fluoride treatment and prophy at the Burkholder building in Alliance. Photo by David Riggenbach.

Dental hygiene students from the west division program in Gering, Neb., also participated in the Alliance event. They have been receiving much of their dental hygiene classroom education via teleconferencing from the College of Dentistry in Lincoln to the Panhandle Community Services Health Center in Gering.

In appreciation for their services, students and faculty were treated to a June 4 cookout in Dr. Taylor’s backyard, where they dined on steaks donated by a local grocery store.
“It’s our way of saying thank-you for coming 800 miles roundtrip,” Dr. Taylor said.

The college also tested its tele-dentistry project on June 4 using videoconferencing equipment installed at the hospital, where children in need of more complicated procedures were treated. Using tele-dentistry, dental practitioners in Alliance were able to talk with periodontists, oral surgeons, oral pathologists and a restorative dentist standing by at the dental college in Lincoln.

“It was a great success,” Dr. Brown said.

Dental hygiene senior Angela Heckman cleans teeth at the Burkholder building. Photo by David Riggenbach.

The value of the project was proven, he said, when a young patient with what looked like warts on the back of her tongue was diagnosed with simply having enlarged tissue, much to the relief of her parents who saved time and money by not having to travel to Lincoln for treatment.

Dr. Brown said he has gotten a lot of positive feedback and even a few suggestions on better videoconferencing equipment to use that would make the project more cost effective.

“We could not have conducted the tele-dentistry project without the financial backing of Nebraska Health and Human Services System,” Dr. Brown said. “Nor could we have Dental Day without the support of Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation who has sponsored Dental Day since 2002.”