Dental Care IS Available at Health Clinics n But Waiting Lists Can Be Long

By Joan Sanstadt, News Editor
Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:21 PM CDT

Dental care is a service Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association (WPHCA) strives to provide at many of its 17 main health locations across the state.

WPHCA Executive Director Stephanie Harrison told Agri-View “Health centers are required to provide dental services to patients, either on site through employed dentists or by contracts established with local dentists.”

Dental care is provided by employed dentists at the following sites:

- Lake Superior Community Health Center n Superior

- Scenic Bluffs Community Health Center n Cashton

- Family Health Center of Marshfield n Chippewa Falls, Owen, Park Falls and Ladysmith

- Bridge community Health Clinic n Wausau

- Northern Health Centers n Lakewood

- Access Community Health Centers of Madison

- Family Health/La Clinica n Wautoma

- Westside Healthcare Association n Milwaukee

- Milwaukee Health Services n Milwaukee

- Kenosha Community Health Center n Kenosha

- Community Health Systems, Inc. Beloit (with future expansion planned in Racine and Darlington)

Tom Petri, WPHCA’s policy director, confirmed that dental care is available at health centers but added “waiting list at some of our centers is obscenely long. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful thing that health centers are able to still help people get quality dental care.”

But Petri urged anyone seeking dental care at a community health center to not be discouraged. “In the health center world, our biggest challenge is the overwhelming amount of need for dental care and the fact a dentist can see only so many patients a day. Even if we had all the money we needed, it would still be a challenge because it is a workforce problem. Sometimes the barrier is in getting dentists to practice in the health centers (at least part of the time), rather than setting up a private practice,” Petri said.

“We can’t order them to see health clinic patients,” Petri acknowledged. However, health centers are able to help people who need dental care to receive it.

“Hospital emergency rooms don’t have dentists available so dental emergencies aren’t usually served at ERs,” Petri continued.

There is a shortage of dentists, not only in Wisconsin, but nationwide. Lawmakers and policy makers have, in recent years, “recognized the role community health centers in Wisconsin have played in stepping to the forefront to help low income people, those on Medicaid or those without insurance, receive dental care.

“Yet there is still a need for dentists to perform routine checkups or procedures n we’re not talking dental surgery n get access to quality dental care. That need, while it exists across the state, is not front and center on a lot of politicians’ radar screens,” Petri continued.

Even with the increasing need for dental care across the state, “it’s not a problem that can be solved by changing a law or a regulation. This truly is something where you have to put some money where your mouth is and the Wisconsin Legislature has started doing that,” Petri added.

The northern area of the state is where health centers have probably made the biggest dent, both in terms of dental care and in general health care, Petri indicated.

“People who lived above Highway 29 were really pinched in terms of where they could receive health and dental services n and there is a huge connection between dental health and overall health wellness,” Petri emphasized.

WPHCA’s health centers across the state have grown in number, but the growth has been a steady, rise and not a spiked increase. In the last five to six years the number of health centers has had a slow but steady increase from 12 centers to 17.

Petri admits “because we’re non-profit and largely government-funded, we don’t have much room an advertising budget. We’re not on television nor on billboards and seldom on radio. Our patient base is often word-of-mouth because someone has passed on positive recommendations, or through social groups, seniors talking at a senior living complex or in other group settings.”

Providing quality oral health care is one of the commitments health centers have made. Petri advises people to be persistent n even if it means they get put on a waiting list. “Everyone will get care and an opportunity to get their teeth checked out. It’s a wonderful opportunity for individuals or families n many of whom have put off dental care because they didn’t know where to go or were unable to pay fees at private clinics. One of the first questions often asked by private dental clinics is ‘how will you be paying?’ If the answer is out-of-pocket you may be turned away,” Petri noted.

But the health policy director acknowledged patience may be needed. “It’s not a situation of not having the dental equipment or the right dental equipment. Sometimes it is a situation where people have made an appointment and when they come in the care they need exceeds the amount of time the dentist has blocked off for the appointment,” he said.

But he urged people who need health care and dental care, but who lack insurance or other resources to come to the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Centers across the state.

“You will not be turned away,” he said.

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