Dental college outreach clinic to go mobile

MUSC’s College of Dental Medicine will hit the road with statewide outreach programs thanks to grant funding from the Healthy South Carolina Initiative and the Duke Endowment.

Also, fourth-year MUSC dental students will rotate through a Greenville-based outreach program that offers free dental care for needy kids in the Upstate.

The Healthy South Carolina Initiative and Duke Endowment grants will allow the college to purchase and equip a mobile clinic. This dental van will provide the opportunity for faculty, students and local private dentists to treat underserved patients in a community setting.

The program is being coordinated with other Healthy South Carolina Initiative grants to assess community needs and identify areas where an interdisciplinary approach to providing dental care can be developed.

The Greenville-based outreach program, “Creating Smiles for a Lifetime,” is the idea-turned-reality of MUSC Dental College alumnus Greg Ayers, DMD. With the cooperative efforts of state-wide nonprofit health care provider Commun-I-Care, and Greenville Technical College, “Creating Smiles for a Lifetime” was given the green light recently thanks to a Greenville Hospital Foundation decision to fund the program.

The program will operate weekend clinics at Greenville Technical College’s dental facility, beginning in September. Young patients whose families can’t afford regular dentists will be able to sign up for free to see a dentist, receive check-ups, cleanings and any other treatment they may need. With the potential to serve more than 800 young people a month, it’s a program that Ayers believes can improve health and save money.

“An important element is volunteer support from dentists,” said Charles Hook, professor in the College of Dental Medicine. He noted that in addition to the fourth-year dental students from MUSC who will be rotating through the program, dentists in the Greenville area have agreed to volunteer one weekend a month.

A single Commun-I-Care Green-ville-based staff member will coordinate all elements, recruiting volunteer dentists and scheduling patients.