USA - Dental Center Feels the Bite
Dental Center Feels the Bite
South Bay Children's Health Clinic struggles to maintain low-cost care
By Sonja Sharp, Staff WriterArticle Launched: 07/06/2008 11:04:20 PM PDT
Bouncing around his dentist's Redondo Beach office, Jacob seems like an average 4-year-old obsessed with his favorite robots - Wall-E and Optimus Prime.
Yet, while more than 60 percent of children entering the Los Angeles Unified School District already suffer tooth decay, the curly-haired preschooler boasts a perfectly white smile.
That's thanks to the South Bay Children's Health Clinic, where Jacob and his 15-year-old sister get regular dental checkups and low-cost dental care.
"If it weren't for this place, I wouldn't take him to the dentist at all," said Jacob's 35-year-old mother, who asked not to be named. A Lawndale resident, the stay-at-home mom said she lacks insurance for her two children.
"They're our average patients," said Tina Harris, the center's executive director.
In the past year, the clinic has seen a wave of new patients, thanks to the recent slump in the economy.
But because the center relies on local government grants and community donations, services have also suffered as that funding has withered.
"Our patient base has definitely increased," Harris said. "Funding is down. On an operational basis, it is very, very hard."
To help maintain its facility, the center relies on the community and local businesses. Recently, dozens of volunteers from ExxonMobil spent the day painting the deteriorating facility. Supreme Paints in Redondo Beach donated the supplies.
Despite hard times, the center maintains three part-time dentists. The center cares for children from low- to moderate-income families, 65 percent of which make less than $35,000 a year. Many of the kids have never seen a dentist before.
The staff works until 8 p.m. twice a week, and from 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday to clean and seal teeth, apply fluoride and provide general dental care that runs upward of $100 at private clinics. Families pay $40 for the service.
"We lose money every time somebody walks through that door," Harris said.
In addition to clinic services, the center screens students at nearly two dozen local schools, referring them for dental care and counseling.
The counseling center, located in Torrance, is funded largely by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Until 2005, the center also operated its own hearing and vision clinics. Now it refers patients to other clinics for those services, Harris said.
More than 4,000 students had their teeth screened in Lawndale schools alone in 2007. Of those, about 200 required immediate dental care.
0f the nearly 10,000 children screened across the South Bay, more than 900 needed some dental work.
One child, referred from Carson Middle School, received care for tooth decay so severe he had stopped eating.
"Every single tooth in the mouth was decayed," Harris said. "We did about $2,000 of work, and it cost the patient about $60."
Chronic tooth decay and gum disease can lead to absenteeism and long-term health problems, Harris said.
"The mouth is an open door to health throughout the body," Harris said. "We want to be the pathway to a happy smile."
Los Angeles California is fluoridated:NYSCOF
South Bay Children's Health Clinic struggles to maintain low-cost care
By Sonja Sharp, Staff WriterArticle Launched: 07/06/2008 11:04:20 PM PDT
Bouncing around his dentist's Redondo Beach office, Jacob seems like an average 4-year-old obsessed with his favorite robots - Wall-E and Optimus Prime.
Yet, while more than 60 percent of children entering the Los Angeles Unified School District already suffer tooth decay, the curly-haired preschooler boasts a perfectly white smile.
That's thanks to the South Bay Children's Health Clinic, where Jacob and his 15-year-old sister get regular dental checkups and low-cost dental care.
"If it weren't for this place, I wouldn't take him to the dentist at all," said Jacob's 35-year-old mother, who asked not to be named. A Lawndale resident, the stay-at-home mom said she lacks insurance for her two children.
"They're our average patients," said Tina Harris, the center's executive director.
In the past year, the clinic has seen a wave of new patients, thanks to the recent slump in the economy.
But because the center relies on local government grants and community donations, services have also suffered as that funding has withered.
"Our patient base has definitely increased," Harris said. "Funding is down. On an operational basis, it is very, very hard."
To help maintain its facility, the center relies on the community and local businesses. Recently, dozens of volunteers from ExxonMobil spent the day painting the deteriorating facility. Supreme Paints in Redondo Beach donated the supplies.
Despite hard times, the center maintains three part-time dentists. The center cares for children from low- to moderate-income families, 65 percent of which make less than $35,000 a year. Many of the kids have never seen a dentist before.
The staff works until 8 p.m. twice a week, and from 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday to clean and seal teeth, apply fluoride and provide general dental care that runs upward of $100 at private clinics. Families pay $40 for the service.
"We lose money every time somebody walks through that door," Harris said.
In addition to clinic services, the center screens students at nearly two dozen local schools, referring them for dental care and counseling.
The counseling center, located in Torrance, is funded largely by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Until 2005, the center also operated its own hearing and vision clinics. Now it refers patients to other clinics for those services, Harris said.
More than 4,000 students had their teeth screened in Lawndale schools alone in 2007. Of those, about 200 required immediate dental care.
0f the nearly 10,000 children screened across the South Bay, more than 900 needed some dental work.
One child, referred from Carson Middle School, received care for tooth decay so severe he had stopped eating.
"Every single tooth in the mouth was decayed," Harris said. "We did about $2,000 of work, and it cost the patient about $60."
Chronic tooth decay and gum disease can lead to absenteeism and long-term health problems, Harris said.
"The mouth is an open door to health throughout the body," Harris said. "We want to be the pathway to a happy smile."
Los Angeles California is fluoridated:NYSCOF
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