UAMS Receives Delta Dental Grant to Support Patient Care
| Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation recently renewed a $30,000 grant to the UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center to help pay for additional dental care for patients seen first at the free clinic.
Some of center’s patients are referred for the next level of care to the UAMS Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation Oral Health Clinic. The 12th Street Center’s dental service is provided at no cost to patients and has seen hundreds of patients since opening in 2015. Delta Dental first awarded the grant in 2016.
Dental hygiene students and dental residents at the center provide oral screenings and basic dental care under the supervision of licensed dentists and dental hygienists. Services there include cleanings, simple fillings and extractions.
“The main point of the extractions is to get them out of pain and then refer them to the Oral Health Clinic for comprehensive care,” Dana Bodenner, DDS, assistant professor in the UAMS Center for Dental Education. “The 12th Street Center patients come from the nearby Promise Neighborhood and do not have insurance. The next priority is to get them Medicaid coverage so they have more access to dental care going forward.”
The interprofessional 12th Street Center opened in 2013. There, students from all of the UAMS colleges and the Graduate School provide health and wellness services, including disease and medication management, dental screenings, health screenings, education and immunizations for the community.
Along with Bodenner, the other co-principal investigators on the grant are Ashley McMillan, DDS, associate professor in the Center for Dental Education, and Claire Tucker, Ed.D., RDH, chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene in the UAMS College of Health Professions.
“The foundation’s generosity allows us to expand and help our patients and our students too.” Tucker said. “It supports both our educational mission by providing opportunities to our students for hands-on experience and our patient care mission by making very needed dental care available to many patients who might not otherwise receive it.”
Interprofessional education also is an important component of training the dental residents, Bodenner said. At the 12th Street Center, they engage with students from all the UAMS colleges in team-based care, giving them a richer experience they can take with them into practice after their residencies are complete.
She said they try to see about 80 patients a year at the extraction clinic at the 12th Street Center and refer another 15 to 20 to the Oral Health Clinic for further treatment when warranted.
Many are offered referrals to the clinic but because they struggle with transportation issues and time off from work, only a percentage of them show up at the clinic, Bodenner said.
Those patients are asked to pay a small percentage of the cost, roughly 10%, but the remainder of the cost is discounted or underwritten by the clinic.