VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES FOR DENTISTS
AND DENTAL HYGIENISTS
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There are, among low-income children and adults throughout
Utah, a significant
number of individuals with
unmet dental needs. Low-income
people have higher
rates of untreated oral health
problems than moderate or high-income people.
Low-income families
are frequently uninsured or
underinsured for dental care
without discretionary funds to pay for care,
thus creating an insurmountable
barrier
to accessing oral health care. In
Utah, this translates to over 1.6 million work hours
and 500,000 school hours lost each
year
due to dental related illness. Poor oral
health may impair the ability
of low-income adults to find work or perform in their
jobs. Furthermore,
for more than one in
four children, the trip to the emergency
room is their first "dental visit".
Opportunities
for dentists and dental hygienists to volunteer time and
services in order
to address this critical issue are available throughout
the state. Following
are descriptions of volunteer opportunities and
contact information.
Salt Lake County
Salt Lake Donated Dental Services (SLDDS)
Contact: Gwen Jefferies, Clinic Manager (801) 983-0349
SLDDS operates a clinic staffed by volunteer dentists and paid dental assistants.
Preventive and restorative services are provided to people who are homeless,
who are enrolled in public insurance programs or who have an income less than
the Federal poverty level. Dentists typically volunteer six half-days
a year.
The clinic is located at 415 West 400 South in Salt Lake City.
Inner-City Project Dental Storehouse
Contact: Dr. Richard Ellis, Co-Director
(801) 278-3954
The Inner-City Project is a network of volunteer dentists who provide
charitable
care to low-income patients in their own offices. Patients
are prescreened for
income eligibility and are referred to dentists by
service missionaries form the
Salt Lake inner city area and by case managers
at the Health Access Project.
Typically, dentists pledge to see three
patients a year.
Give Kids A Smile Campaign
Contact: Dr. Eric Larsen, Utah Dental Association, (801) 947-9111
Through the Give Kids a Smile Program, dentists donate vouchers for charitable
care that are distributed to low-income uninsured children. The patients'
families
redeem these vouchers by making appointments directly with the dentists'
offices.
Utah County
Community Health Connect
Contact: Garn Schumann, Volunteer Network Coordinator, (801) 818-3011
Utah County dentists provide oral health preventive
and treatment care services to
low-income
dentally uninsured children and adults. Services are provided in the
dentist's office and Community Health Connect assists with the administrative
duties
of prescreening
for
eligibility,
enrollment,
dental
history and travel
if
necessary.
Tooele County
Tooele County Healthy Smiles Clinic
Contact: Tricia Fuhriman, (435) 843-2309
Tooele County Healthy Smiles clinic,
is staffed by volunteer dentists and assistants.
Dentists typically volunteer
four hours a month in the clinic
with their assistants.
Basic preventive, restorative and relief of pain services
are provided to people who
are on Medicaid or meet Federal poverty level
guidelines.
The clinic is located at 394 South. Main St.
in Tooele.
Washington County
The Doctors' Free Clinic of St. George
Contact: DeeAnne Staheli, Clinic Coordinator (435) 656-0022
Washington County volunteer dentists and dental hygienists volunteer on weekday
mornings to provide emergency oral health care services for children and adults
enrolled
in Medicaid or who are at or below 150%
of federal poverty level and without dental
insurance.
The clinic is located
at 1036 East Riverside Drive in St. George.
Weber County
Health Access Team
Contact: April Boyer, Volunteer Coordinator (801) 395-8209
www.healthaccessteam.org
The Health Access Team connects the uninsured, underinsured population of Ogden
with Dental, Medical and Mental Health care services. The Health Access
Team
is
currently recruiting dentists, asking them to see one to three patients a month
in their
own
office during their regular work day.