Helping
Thousands of Kids Smile across South Dakota
Delta
Dental of South Dakota’s Dakota Smiles Mobile Dental Program celebrates 10
years
Pierre,
SD. (Sept 9, 2014)--It
all started ten years ago with the first stop in Bison, South Dakota. Delta
Dental of South Dakota’s Dakota Smiles Mobile Dental Program hit the road in an
effort to serve children ages 0-21 across the state, providing dental care to
those who may not have the means or access. In the first year of operation the
mobile staff saw 890 patients and visited 14 different South Dakota
communities.
Ten
years later, more than 167,000 miles of highways and gravel roads have been
covered on the way to 613 weeks of service in 75 South Dakota communities providing
dental care to over 25,000 kids and counting. Since 2008, the Dakota Smiles program has operated
two fully staffed and equipped dental trucks in an attempt to meet the demand
for dental services across South Dakota. More than half of the children who come
to visit the dental trucks present with untreated tooth decay.
Bison Community
Clinic’s certified physician assistant and office manager, Dan Kvale, has helped
coordinate the mobile dental visits to the Bison community since the beginning
of the mobile program. Kvale said, “Having the bus has improved the dental care
and overall health of our patients.” He believes that it has had an economic
impact on the community as well. “It saves parents gas money and time off
work.”
Kvale says that
oral health has always been important to the Bison community but not easily
accessed. “Before the dental bus came to town, we had many dentally underserved
kids. A large percentage of our children do not have dental insurance.
Therefore, as a clinician, I would see kids coming in with dental problems that
had been ignored or put off as long as possible. Even children with insurance
would have delays because parents are reluctant to pull the kids out of school
and then travel 150 miles each way to see a pediatric dentist,” said Kvale.
All the
dental work provided in the past ten years would not have been possible without
the help of state-wide volunteers, collaborating partners, dental
professionals, staff, and the dedicated community advocates who put in the
extra hours to make the site visits possible. Everyone involved with the Dakota
Smiles Mobile Dental Program continues to be instrumental in improving the oral
health of our own South Dakota children. The Dakota Smiles program is the
hallmark of Delta Dental’s community benefit efforts, said Scott Jones, Delta
Dental of South Dakota’s president and CEO. “We are pleased to
financially and operationally support this important effort that has provided nearly
$12 million in oral health care to so many underserved children” said
Jones.
Dakota Smiles
Mobile Dental Program was back in Bison, South Dakota, the week of
September 15th-19th providing oral health care.
About Delta Dental of South Dakota
Delta Dental of South Dakota is an oral health
company specializing in providing dental benefits programs to nearly 1,700
employer groups throughout South Dakota.
Through its supporting 501(c) (3) foundation, the Delta Dental
Philanthropic Fund, the company supports a number of oral health causes as part
of its not-for-profit mission to advance and promote the improvement of oral
health in South Dakota. Delta Dental of South Dakota is a member of the Delta
Dental Plans Association, the largest and oldest dental plan system in the
country.
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