Smiles all around at free dental clinic (video)
By Tim Krohn, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The lack of insurance brought him to
For a short video of the event, click here
He was there to get a partial denture to fill the gaps of four missing teeth. It wasn't his first use of the free care. He attended the same event in
"I had dental insurance but lost it when they cut my job. I substitute teach now, but they don't pay very much and there are not benefits."
The more than 1,000 volunteers at the clinic would provide nearly 2,000 patient visits in the two-day event, with people having a variety of procedures from cleaning and fillings to extractions and partial dentures and some patients returning both days for work.
While patients got relief from pain for a range of dental problems, organizers said that perhaps the most grateful patients are the 125 or so who get partial dentures for missing front teeth.
"People just beam when they're done," said
"One young man came in (Friday) and had broken his front tooth and said he was getting married (Saturday), she said."
The team took impressions of his teeth and fashioned a replacement that was to be put in Saturday morning.
Others seek the dentures to improve their chances while interviewing for jobs, or to just feel more confident about themselves.
Some patients, like
"They're going to take out my front tooth and put in a partial. It'll be temporary but hopefully it'll last until I can do something permanent," said Batson. "This is a great thing," he said of the clinic.
Producing the hard plastic dentures involved a production line of technicians. "The technicians are the real stars of the show," Hermanson said.
After a rubber impression of the mouth is taken, technicians choose from trays with hundreds of plastic teeth to find a size and color match for the patient. The teeth are then trimmed, sanded and mounted into the impression. Other techs then wrap wires on the teeth and build a plastic upper mouth piece that the tooth or teeth will be attached to.
After putting them in pressure cookers to harden them and some final polishing and shaping, the partials are fitted in the patients.
"In our office, we look at these as just a temporary thing until we do something else. But here, a lot of people come back a year or even two later and they are still wearing them," Hermanson said.
Many more people take advantage of the teeth cleaning or having a filling or two put in at the clinic.
She lost her insurance last year when she got laid off from a food processing plant in
Nearby, 8-year-old
Both the girls need some teeth extracted because they are too crowded on the lower jaws.
Piper was calm about the coming teeth-pulling. "I've done it a million times," she said.
"They both have very crowded little jaws," said her mom.
Scherer and her husband do have dental insurance for them and their three kids, which she said helps with the routine cleanings and exams.
"When it comes to pulling (teeth), it gets very expensive," she said. "I think it's awesome. It's amazing what you can get done here."
This is the second time the event has been held in
She said they are looking at holding the event in
"We look at the need in a geographical area and we knew there a large number of people we served in
Perpich said they're also looking at holding smaller events in smaller communities more often.
While the volunteers donated their time, Delta Dental and local businesses provided cash donations of nearly
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