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La Clinica wants to start dental care Would help poor and migrant workers By SUSAN JAY The poor and uninsured in Jackson County have few options when it comes to dental care: it's either weeks of waiting or no care at all. The staff at La Clinica del Valle, a federally funded community and migrant health center just north of Phoenix on South Pacific Highway, receives calls daily from patients asking for referrals. They call because they can't find a dentist who will take the Oregon Health Plan, who will accept monthly payments or who will see them in the next couple of months. "The majority of our patients have gone for years without dental care," said Polly Williams, executive director of La Clinica. Of the 4,000 patients treated at the clinic in 1998, she said 90 percent needed dental services, but few ever received them. "For the last five years, this has been the big need. When we survey patients this is absolutely the most requested service," she said. The reasons for the problem? Few dentists take Oregon Health Plan patients locally and statewide, mostly because reimbursement rates do not cover costs. Also, there appears to be a shortage of dentists. One possible solution would be for La Clinica to open its own dental clinic. Williams is working toward that goal, and recently applied for a $168,000 federal grant, which would help pay for a dentist, two hygienists and a receptionist. She projects the total dental clinic budget at $250,000, which includes revenues from patient fees and the Oregon Health Plan. If the federal grant is approved, La Clinica could see approximately 1,000 patients the first year, with services including X-rays, teeth cleanings and cavity fillings. It's uncertain whether the dentists the clinic hires would perform root canals and other similar procedures. Seeing 1,000 patients would just skim the surface of the problem, Williams admits, but it's a start. La Clinica already has a new, 2,500-square-foot dental clinic, which is part of the main building on the south side. Builders completed the shell for the dental clinic when constructing the main building at 3617 S. Pacific Highway. The inside of the dental clinic, which has three dental bays, was gradually finished after the new clinic opened. La Clinica has been accepting donations of dental equipment in good condition, and the regional Kiwanis group is raising funds for new equipment, including a $10,500 panoramic X-ray machine, which rotates around the patient's head to take pictures of the entire mouth. Local hospitals, social service agencies and the Community Health Center wrote letters of support as part of La Clinica's grant application. "I think it would be one more resource in the community," said Peg Crowley, executive director for the Community Health Center. "I don't think it will be the only answer," she added. "We need much more capacity." Ashland dentist Pete Schwarzer, past president of the local dental association, said any help with dental services will go a long way. "There's definitely a need for low-income people and migrant workers," he said. The lack of dental services for the poor isn't just in Southern Oregon, he said, but throughout the state and the nation. Reimbursement rates are low compared with a dentist's overhead costs, he said. "A lot of dentists do free and low-cost care ... but we can't cover everybody. There's only so much we can do for free." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA