Ronald McDonald House Charities continues mobile dental-care efforts

Tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease (Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, May 2000).

According to Dr. David Ukena, president, Springfield Dental Society, the need for dental care for children on Medicaid is a huge issue. Ukena said last year, through the Emergency to Access Pro-gram in which the local dental society works with Springfield Public Schools nurses to help children on Medicaid. Last year, 102 children received $17,000 of pro bono care.

"Right now we have Medicaid that provides for kids, but it's severely under-funded and it pays about 33 to 35 cents on the dollar. The overhead for dentistries averages about 55 to 65 percent. It's like opening up Wal-Mart and telling them to provide everything to their customers at a loss," Ukena said.

Dentists can only do so much free or at-a-loss dental care. Re-cognizing a need, the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ozarks Inc. in May 2001 committed to create and provide 100 percent of ongoing funding for a mobile dental care unit for at-risk children.

The state has specific rules and guidelines as to who can hire a dentist, so RMHC created a separate nonprofit organization, The Tooth Truck Inc., led by local dentist Kevin Wallace, to head the dental treatment aspects of the project that officially is known as the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. The organization expects to re-ceive its mobile dental unit in April, said Bonnie Keller, president and chief executive officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities Inc.

"We took our time to make sure we did the right thing. Obviously fund raising is a big issue. Can we go out there and maintain a $400,000 operating budget for this project every year? That was a big issue," Keller said.

Keller expects part of the operating budget to come from Medi-caid reimbursement about $150,000. The rest will have to come from such sources as donations.

Keller said funds raised for the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile will be kept completely separate from funding for Ronald Mc-Donald House Charities' other funds for the Ronald McDonald House, which remains RMHC's cornerstone project. She said the Ronald Mc-Donald Care Mobile will benefit from the Rock'n Ribs Barbecue fund-raising event presented by Rotary Clubs of Springfield.

Dentist support

Local dentists also are providing financial support.

"A bunch of dentists got together and donated $75,000 to the Ronald Mc-Donald House fund for this mobile unit. Springfield Dental Foundation advertising will be on the side of the bus. The unit is a good thing. Most dentists in the area are crucially aware of what's going on," Ukena said.

The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile is specifically designed for delivering pediatric dental care. The 40-foot-long mo-bile dental care unit will have two completely equipped dental operatories as well as a reception area, laboratory, pharmacy and medical records area.

The mobile dental unit will begin its duties in Springfield where there is the highest concentration of children, and to allow time to "fine tune" the operation before taking it on the road to outlying areas, Keller said.

It's taken a lot of research, cooperation and, as Keller puts it, "a leap of faith" to bring this project to fruition.

"We literally started over as an organization," she said about creating the new 501(c3) The Tooth Truck, Inc. "With this new project we basically started over with funding and planning to build a se-cure foundation."

Keller also mentioned "divine intervention." because the organization got the approximately $300,000 mobile unit donated for the cause.

"I think the biggest thing that happened in the beginning while we were researching, was the Springfield Dental Society embracing this project. We've never pretended we know how to operate a dental office, and although we feel strongly about filling this need, we realized that we are not the experts. I think they are our mentors," Keller said.

Wallace, board chairperson for The Tooth Truck, Inc., believes the program is unique because "we are not just attempting to provide dental triage, to be there to mop up the emergencies." Rather, he said, "the intent is to provide comprehensive care for the kids with prevention as the real goal. I think that's where most past programs have failed. We tend to want to repair the damage after it's been done. Perhaps 80 percent of dental disease is preventable."

Wallace hopes that the mobile dental unit project will become a prototype followed by other areas.

"It's the first I know of where a well-structured program has been created in which private charities, the dental community and government have committed to focus on a problem of real need," he said.

"I have a visionI don't know how accurate it isthat five years from now we will have more than one of these units and have branched out to many of the surrounding counties and school districts with mobile clinics. Perhaps a free standing, traditional office or two. I like the stability a traditional office brings as a dental home for the kids; a place to go to every six months for cleaning and the impact on prevention," Wallace added.

"It's amazing. I'm excited Ronald Mc-Donald House Charities has the opportunity to address this problem. I'm glad we have the opportunity to provide a solution for dental care for at-risk kids," said Debbie Kinser, RMHC vice president and dental program coordinator.