From the #deltadentalARFoundation: The Samaritan Community Center in Rogers sits just off US-62 on the northern outskirts of town. Surrounded by green meadows and pastures, it sends a message of calm and hope to “the hurting and hungry in Northwest Arkansas.”

Inside the 19,000 square-foot building are a food pantry and café, offices for wrap-around services such as counseling, housing and rental assistance, and a full-service free and charitable dental clinic, one of only a handful of such clinics in Washington and Benton counties.

Serving uninsured, low-income adults, the clinic uses volunteer and staff dentists, oral surgeons and hygienists to provide restorative treatment and tooth extractions. It also holds regular dental health education seminars for the residents of four local housing shelters. 

Last year, the clinic scheduled 1,200+ patient appointments to provide more than $420,000 worth of free dental care to about 400 individuals. The dental treatments were funded, in part, by a #communitygrant from the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation.

Restoring the oral health of a patient who might suffer extensive dental decay and gum disease due to a lifetime of poverty is likely to require six to seven dentist appointments over two years and meticulous home care, explains Jennifer Turner, Ph.D., director of health and social services at the center. The dental treatments typically total $6,000 to $7,000, although the patients don’t pay for the clinic services. 

Oral health starts in the home, Jennifer notes.“Parents need to value oral health and instill that value in their children to break the cycle [of poverty-related dental and gum disease],” she says. “Even though [some] schools do annual dental screenings and there is [Medicaid] insurance, it’s in the home where children are socialized around oral health. They need role models.”

Kudos to the staff of the Samaritan Dental Clinic for addressing urgent oral health care needs in their community. 

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