Christian dentists volunteer to help those who need it
3/8/2008
By Karen Owen
Messenger-Inquirer
Krissy Greenwell remembers working in pain, tears streaming down her face.
An automobile wreck had damaged some of her teeth, but the part-time employee at a local discount store couldn't afford the hundreds of dollars needed to fix her smile and end her pain.
She was embarrassed to face customers with her teeth so mangled. When co-workers asked her why she was crying, she hated to admit she couldn't afford a dentist. My allergies were acting up, she would lie to them, or "I just don't feel very well today."
Greenwell, now 29, finally found relief two years ago at the Christian Dental Mission, a 12-year-old, faith-based dental clinic designed to help the working poor. She's scheduled to have more work done soon.
The clinic is sponsored by the Daviess-McLean Baptist Association but uses the talents of dentists from a variety of faiths. It just needs more of them, coordinators say. The demand for assistance is overwhelming.
The clinic's supporters say they welcome recent local efforts to find more ways to help the poor with dental problems.
"I don't think we begin to meet the need," said Dr. Carol Hulsey, who has done a lot of volunteering at the clinic over the years. "We might have 50 to 60 calls a week."
Patients come from surrounding counties too. They include the working poor, the homeless, and people with substance abuse problems, mental illnesses, disabilities and chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and kidney disease, the dentists said.
In the past -- although they didn't realize what it was at first -- the volunteers also saw many cases of "meth mouth," patients suffering from the devastating effects of methamphetamine use, Hulsey said.
The clinic is in a former house on Lancaster Avenue next to the Baptist Center. "We started with very, very used equipment," said Dr. Ralph Thacker, a Livermore dentist who has been a longtime volunteer. Today the mission has two modern operating bays and a recently renovated sterilization room, he said.
The clinic is underused, though. Only three dentists regularly take turns working there right now. That means only three half-day clinics most months.
"We could always use more volunteers," said Dr. Terry Norris, another longtime volunteer.
"They do their best with ones they can see," said Hulsey, who is now working on a master's degree in theology at St. Meinrad Theological Seminary. "At different times we have had a moratorium on taking new patients because we're so backlogged."
The wait for treatment can stretch six weeks to two months, Hulsey said.
While most patients come in with pressing needs, the volunteer dentists and hygienists also give them check-ups and cleanings. Treatment may require several visits. "We try to treat everybody the same as you would at a private dentist," Norris said.
"I do primarily extractions," he said in a recent interview. "The last clinic I worked, I performed extractions on 22 teeth" -- about $2,000 in free dental care in one night, he said.
