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Successful Model
for Rural and Underserved Communities
Dental Services
Project: Community Dental Care
Target Population: Community Dental Care provides dental care and preventive programs in a culturally and linguistically sensitive manner to low income and ethnic minority families to improve the overall health and quality of life for its patients.
Geographic Area: East St. Paul and Maplewood
Description: Community Dental Care is a nonprofit organization and community dental clinic in an area with a high concentration of ethnic minorities with low incomes. For over 20 years it was Peterson & Peterson Dental Clinic, a successful private practice. It was one of the first private clinics in the Metro that focused primarily on serving ethnic minority patients with low incomes. To ensure continued access to high quality dental care for the 90 percent of their patients enrolled in public programs, the clinic was incorporated into a nonprofit in August 2004 and began serving patients as a nonprofit in January 2005. Over 25 years the office has grown into two cost-effective clinics with 24 chairs, 21 dentists and 75 auxiliary staff.
Community Projects: Community Dental Care provides outreach and preventive oral health care and education for young children (0-5) and expectant mothers from high-risk populations in St. Paul, primarily immigrants, refugees and families with low incomes. Community Dental Care provides dental health professional students the opportunity to gain dental and cultural competence skills through training and practice in treating patients of ethnically diverse backgrounds.
Web site: Web site: www.cdentc.org
Contact: Vacharee Peterson, D.D.S., Chief Executive Officer
Community Dental Care
828 Hawthorne Avenue East
St. Paul, MN 55106
(651) 774-2959 ext. 215
Email: vacharee@cdentc.org
A printable version of this model (PDF: 21KB/1pg)
Project: Pillager Country Dental Clinic
Target Population: People who are severely and profoundly mentally retarded, mentally ill, or medically compromised
Geographic Area: Staples; however, the clinic is seeing persons on referral from many areas of the state.
Description:The Pillager Country Dental Clinic focuses on providing care under general anesthesia for people who are severely and profoundly mentally retarded, as well as those who are mentally ill and medically compromised, who cannot receive treatment at the clinical level. Because of their physical, mental or compromised status, many of these patients have received only episodic care in the past.
Contact: Daniel Rose, D.D.S. danrose@rosehillranch.org
A printable version of this model (PDF: 28 KB/1pg)
(top of page)
Project: Rice Regional Dental Clinic
Target Population: Dental underserved residents in the 12-county service area, including public program patients and others who lack dental insurance or the means to access care, although patients will be accepted from any area in the state.
Geographic Area: Big Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Pope, Redwood, Renville, Swift and Yellow Medicine Counties
Description: The partners for this collaborative effort are Rice Memorial Hospital and the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. The goals include:
- Providing dental care to underserved patients in a rural setting
- Providing dental and dental hygiene students with an opportunity to practice in a rural setting
- Promoting careers in dentistry among people living in the area
- Engaging area dentists and hygienists in public services
- Providing health education and service to the community
- Having a positive influence on the number of dentists and dental hygienists choosing to practice in the service area.
The Dental Clinic, located at Rice Memorial Hospital, is equipped with 10 dental chairs and state-of-the-art dental equipment. Four dental students and two dental hygiene students spend a one-month rotation through the clinic on a year-round basis.
Patients are assigned to a dental or dental hygiene student who will perform most procedures. A full-time, faculty dentist is on staff and is consulted about the patients' treatment needs.
The Dental Clinic is open to anyone, regardless of insurance status. Fees are determined on a sliding scale.
Funding was received from: Countryside Public Health Service, Delta Dental of Minnesota, Healthier Minnesota Community Clinic Fund, Kandiyohi County Public Health, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Minnesota Area Health Education Center, Minnesota Department of Health – Dental Innovations Grant, Minnesota Legislature, Otto Bremer Foundation, Rice Health Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation and University of Minnesota.
Web site: www.ricehospital.com/dentalclinic.html
Contact: Lorry Massa, Rice Memorial Hospital, chief executive officer, at lorry@rice.willmar.mn.us
A printable version of this model (PDF: 29KB/1pg)
Project: St. Joseph’s Community Dental Clinic
Target Population: People receiving Medical Assistance or Minnesota Care
Geographic Area: North central and northwestern Minnesota
(Cass, Clearwater, Beltrami, Becker, Hubbard and Wadena Counties)
Description: The St. Joseph’s Community Dental Clinic serves patients receiving Medical Assistance or Minnesota Care. The hospital-based clinic emphasizes comprehensive services, rather than only episodic care during acute situations, to reduce dental disease over time.
The clinic opened in the spring of 2004 and includes two dentists and eight additional staff. The start-up costs were funded by a Catholic Health Initiatives grant, a Northwest Minnesota Foundation Early Childhood Initiatives grant, Citizen’s National Bank, State Bank and Northwoods Bank. Coordinating with other area dentists, school and hospital staff and other county agencies is critical to the success of the clinic.
St. Joseph’s Community Dental Clinic is integrated with Public Health Services, with nurses assisting new patients with education and referrals. This integration has led to overall coordination for at-risk individuals by connecting public health and dental care and the hospital.
Oral surgery is provided twice a month through St. Joseph’s Area Health Services.
Plans for the Future:
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Seven treatment units, three full-time dentists, four Certified Registered Dental Assistants, three hygienists and adequate administrative support.
- Outreach screening for children in Head Start, mothers and children receiving WIC and individuals receiving Disabled Adult Child assistance by bringing dentists to them.
Contact: Julia Fossman, D.D.S. (218) 732-4436
A printable version of this model (PDF: 28 KB/1pg)
(top of page)
Project: Sanford Dental Clinic Canby
Population: Residents of Canby, Minnesota (pop 2,000) and surrounding rural area. The medical clinic serves about 8,000 patients, including the 75 residents of the Sylvan Court Nursing Home and the adult handicap residents of the Robert E. Miller homes.
Description: In 2003 we weren’t looking to get into the dental business; but it became apparent that the departing dentist was unable to sell his practice and the community was going to be without local service.
The cost of buying a practice or setting up a new practice is prohibitive for a dentist in private practice—especially with the risks associated with a limited (and not growing) rural population. We assumed that dentists might be similar to medical doctors in that they have been trained in their medical specialty, but may not want to actually operate a business—a separate skill entirely. We believed that it would be attractive to a dentist coming to Canby to be part of a medical group.
We had observed the productivity issues related to families forced to leave the community for dental care—our own employees needing to take time off from work to transport their children or themselves, rather than a quick walk after school or a short break from work. We knew every other business in the community was experiencing the same absenteeism.
As the biggest employer in Canby, Sanford Canby Medical Center (SCMC) is fully aware of the importance of keeping shoppers local. When dental patients left the community for care, they also bought groceries, gas and other items.
The Sanford Dental Clinic Canby is committed to quality—we will compete with any clinic on quality work and the use of the best materials and equipment. We do not try to be the low cost provider and do not compete on price. However, our fees are well within the range for the area.
Within the hospital: The dental clinic is a department of Sanford Canby Medical Center—just as the medical clinic is a department, the hospital, nursing home, therapy, dialysis, senior housing, home care are departments. The dental staff has the advantage of the employee benefits available to SCMC staff, which is more attractive than that usually offered by private dental practices.
Recruitment: We began recruiting using the model we’ve established for medical doctor recruitment. Dr. Bteddini responded to an ad in a national dental journal. We didn’t “go outside the United States” to recruit Dr. Bteddini—he had been in the country for about four years—first in Michigan and then in California. He was already a legal resident of the United States, so no immigration process was necessary (although we have hired physicians on J-1 visas and helped them through the immigration process). Dr. Bteddini interviewed at several practices in Minnesota—including a large practice in Rochester and one in Minneapolis, but he chose Canby because it gave him more autonomy. He is committed to quality and what he experienced in California was “production dentistry.” He was also ready for the relief from traffic and the hassle of large cities!
Plans for the Future:
The room originally set aside as a surgical suite was completed in 2008. The dental hygienist completed course work through the University of Minnesota for “expanded functions” and will include those services for her patients. Dr. Bteddini is in the third year of a three-year advanced degree program at the University of Minnesota in dental implants and esthetic dentistry.
Contact : Sally Vogt, Clinic Administrator
vogts@siouxvalley.org
(507) 223-7277 x329 or (605) 874-8484 x 263
A printable version of this model (PDF: 22KB/2pgs)
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