Chase County has no practicing medical providers, marking it as a dental care desert. Next year, that might change.
The Flint Hills Technical College Dental Hygiene program plans to kickstart its inaugural Mobile Dentistry Unit next year. Funded by a $111,000 grant from the Patterson Foundation, the unit will operate as a floating dental office, providing free check-ins and diagnoses.
Katherine Morgan, FHTC, Dean of Health and Human Services and Director of Dental Programs, said that the mobile dentistry unit’s ideal patients are those who cannot afford dental care or do not have access to a dental provider.
“Our goal is to get people into dental care that did not regularly go to the dentist,” Morgan said. “That would be the goal. We’re not planning to charge anyone for services that are in these communities with the need for dental access.”
The mobile unit would work as an enrichment activity for FHTC dental hygiene students, with an official rotation available next fall. Morgan anticipates that in the future, volunteering with the mobile dentistry unit could count towards patient clinical requirements.
Lyon County, Morris County, and Chase County are all defined as dental deserts, experiencing either no providers or a lack of providers per population. Morgan said that multiple factors can influence the creation of a dental care desert, such as lack of insurance and limited access to transportation.
The financial burden of missed wages and excessive medical procedures can also contribute to lack of dental care.
“There is research that shows that people miss out on wages due to missed work because of dental pain or needing to go to the emergency room, and then those overall costs of not having the routine dental care to prevent abscesses, decay,” Morgan said. “They also have trouble, maybe with the gas money for transportation to get to a Dental Office.”
Marissa Pineda-Nuss, Krista Dodds, Emma Krueger are some of the first dental hygiene students to participate in the program.
For all dental hygiene students, working with patients begins at the FHTC dentistry clinic. While school is in session, students conduct dental cleanings and oral exams under the supervision of a dentist and licensed hygienists. Pineda-Nuss wants to take her experience at the dental clinic and take it to those with no transportation.
“We charge $20 for adults to come here, and sometimes that’s a struggle for them to find that,” Pineda-Nuss said. “This is a really good opportunity for people that can’t make the trip or who maybe can’t afford the fee to get the dental care that they need.”
Dodds, a second-year dental hygiene student, said that working with the mobile dentistry unit would expose students to a wide range of patients.
“It’s a great opportunity for us as students to to deal with a diversity of patients,” Dodds said. “It’s also a great opportunity for patients. We go to them and give them this opportunity of getting into a dental routine and getting a cleaning and having a dental home.”
Krueger decided to join the future rotation to give back to those with no dental care.
“I knew I wanted to be a part of it because I want to give dental care to people who can’t access it in their community,” Krueger said.
