Seven people got some relief from dental pain Friday, thanks to a group of people working toward establishing an ongoing series of free dental clinics in Penticton.
“We are trying to encourage and get some more dentists on board with this and hold these clinics every one or two months to deal with the people that just fall through the cracks,” said Dr. Ron Blanchard, who volunteered for this session.
The first session occurred in August of last year, with Greta Henning, a public health worker helping to organize a day-long clinic with Dr. Amaal Ayoub, where 18 patients were treated.
“There is a great need out there,” said Pat Simons, who organized the clinic on Friday. “I am hoping there will be enough dentists to satisfy the need, but it takes a while to get it going.”
After the success of the first clinic, Henning and Simons presented the results to the local dental association, hoping to keep the pilot project going.
“Dr. Blanchard agreed to do the dental clinic and we started advertising,” said Simons. She put out posters around town, including at the Soupateria and the Salvation Army.
“Any place where people are that just don’t have access to dental care and don’t have any coverage through either the ministry, social service, private insurance plans,” said Blanchard. “Today, it’s just an extraction clinic, we’re not restoring any teeth. That’s the way we are going to deal with it, get all the people that need desperate dentistry done and start doing fillings and that sort of thing too.”
During the August clinic, Henning explained that while there is a good on-call dentist system through Interior Health, it doesn’t always fill the need for dental service, especially for patients that can’t have the full treatment right away. She said that often they will be given antibiotics to relieve infection, but when the prescription is done, they are still in the same boat, with the underlying dental problem still not being addressed.
Simons said about 25 people applied for a spot at this clinic and were taken on a first-applied, first-served basis.
“These people, if they need more work, will have to go through the same process again. The only fair way of doing it is first-come, first-served,” she said. While there is a great need, Simons said that if each dentist in town took on just one clinic a year, they would be able to, at least, keep people comfortable.