Dental Health Check with Dr. Linda Niessen
Dental health topics from Dr. Linda Niessen of Baylor College of Dentistry
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Jobless Patients
By Dr. Linda Niessen STORY: JOBLESS PATIENTS
SCRIPT #552 SHOOT: 4/8/04 AIRDATE: Monday, April 12, 2004 Daybreak and Midday DHC Master #19 Timecode: 18:20 For information about low cost or free dental treatment in Dallas County, call Community Dental Care at 214-630-7080, a United Way Agency with nine clinics. In Tarrant County, call 817-277-1165. On the Web: For Dallas County free or low-cost dental clinics: www.dentalhealthprograms.org For Tarrant County (serving only Arlington, Mansfield, and Kennedale residents) www.dentalhealtharlington.org SPECIAL NOTE: Streaming Video of Broadcast: Streaming Video of Broadcast:
Monday, April 12, 2004
214-630-7080.
817-277-1165.
In Texas, children under 21 receiving Medicaid benefits qualify for free dental care from Medicaid participating dentists. There are no dental benefits for adult Medicaid recipients. The federal and state supported CHIPS insurance for low income families in Texas no longer covers dental treatment for children who qualify and enroll.
Jobless Patients 56
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Jobless Patients
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Low-cost dental clinics are reporting significant increases in patients seeking free dental treatment. Already crowded waiting rooms are filling up with people who have lost their jobs and all dental benefits. Dr. Linda Niessen has details in this Dental Health Check.
At this free clinic, patients feel very lucky to be sitting in a dental chair receiving treatment. "Our clinic has been open 11 years this month. And in the entire time we've been open, there has never been a day that we haven't had to turn patients away, said Sally Hopper, Dental Health Clinic Director.
With higher unemployment rates, free clinics are flooded with new patients. "It really has become a crisis for so many people that just don't have any way to pay for treatment but have a great deal of pain can't go to work because they are in pain," Hopper continued. "Once they have teeth extracted, they don't look good and they don't get a job. It really becomes a serious economic problem."
Patient Consuella Thompson said, "With just a blink of the eye, you can be without employment." For months, Consuella Thompson was unemployed. She just started a new job as a teacher's assistant but won't get dental benefits for another seven months. "You're reduced to having to get the least of everything, even though it may be the best at the moment," she said. "It's still the least."
To get her first appointment at the free clinic, Consuella arrived the night before and camped out overnight on the clinic's doorsteps. "That is no fun, in the winter, sitting outside," said Consuella.
"The outlook in Texas is bleak, I think," added Sally Hopper, "for those who are uninsured and don't have dental benefits."
At least 70% of the patients who come to this clinic have dental pain, Many of them suffering from severe pain that causes them to miss work, or prevents them from looking for a job. For Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A & M System, I'm Dr. Linda Niessen, Channel 8 News.
Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.
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