SMILE SQUAD

Mid-Iowa Health Foundation and the Des Moines Health Center team up to improve oral health.

The Mid-Iowa Health Foundation and the Des Moines Health Center have combined forces to create the Smile Squad, Iowa’s first mobile dental clinic. Every year, the clinic visits 24 grade schools in Central Iowa (primarily in Greater Des Moines), spending two or three days at each school and treating 12 children a day.

The schools are chosen based upon the number of children with free or reduced-price lunches. Procedures performed in the 30-foot custom-designed recreational vehicle include preventive services, X-rays, fillings and extractions. The service is free to children whose families can’t afford payment, and Smile Squad staff identifies those who might be eligible for the Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa program, which provides health insurance for Iowa children under the age of 19 in families with low incomes.

Plans for the Smile Squad began more than a year ago, when the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, a charity that provides grants to health projects and organizations in Central Iowa, held a meeting with local medical leaders to decide what new services would best improve the community. Members of the Des Moines Health Center, a not-for-profit community health center that offers dental care for a sliding fee, suggested a mobile clinic to serve underprivileged children would be a great boon to Central Iowa.

“They wanted to know how they could make a significant impact on oral health,” said Mike DeAnda, chief executive of Des Moines Health Center. “No one ever wants to talk about that. It really put a smile on my face.”

Through the health center’s School Smiles and Little Healthy Smiles programs, employees saw that children’s oral health needs were often neglected. Workers in the programs, which provide dental sealants, applications of fluoride varnish and oral health education, refer students with serious dental needs to the Des Moines Health Center or to another dentist. Unfortunately, they would often see the same children a year later with the same cavity, abscess or other problem left untreated.

“There was a lack of dental and oral health services [in underprivileged populations], particularly for children,” said Terry Hernandez, program director of Mid-Iowa Health Foundation. “There was a lack of available dentists to provide that care. We felt like this was a good time to create such a program, and the Des Moines Health Center was the right organization to make this work.”

Through the School Smiles sealant program, Des Moines Health Center employees identified students at the 24 target schools who were in urgent need of attention. A form granting permission to treat the children was sent home for their parents to sign.

“[Before the Smile Squad program] one child had been on the urgent needs list for two years,” DeAnda said. “He had severe cavities that were left untreated. This time, his mom signed the permission slip, so we could treat the problem right at school.”

DeAnda says the Smile Squad isn’t supposed to be the students’ main source of dental treatment. He hopes it can be an introduction to the dentist that will encourage kids to enter a preventive oral health system and begin visiting a local dentist’s office or the main DMHC clinic at 1111 Nineth St. on the United Way Human Service Campus. Some families are already making the transition.

“Public reaction has been very positive,” Hernandez said. “It’s exciting to see the dentists providing their services and the Des Moines Health Center so excited about what they’re doing.”

In fact, nursing homes and schools outside the Des Moines are have been requesting visits. The Smile Squad RV isn’t equipped to serve the elderly at this time. Although the Smile Squad will visit the elementary school in Perry, the program would need $300,000 per year to operate full time and add more locations. DeAnda says that although an increasing number of dentists are expressing interest in volunteering, he still has to pay for equipment, supplies and the dental hygienists and other staff.

“Going into it, we don’t have all the answers, but we have opportunities and the cooperation of an organization like Mid-Iowa Health,” DeAnda said. “I just want to encourage people to support the mobile dental clinic. It’s the real deal. It’s not too good to be true. [If your child needs treatment,] just sign the slip.”