Mission of Mercy to hold dental clinic

The North Carolina Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy (MOM) will hold a free adult dental clinic July 8-9 at Reidsville Christian Church.

Mission of Mercy is a portable free dental program sponsored by the Dental Health Fund and staffed by both professionals and volunteers from across the state.

The organization will provide free dental services, including an examination from a licensed dentist, tooth removal and fillings if needed, as well as teeth cleanings.

Since MOM is trying to help as many people as it can, its dentists may not be able to do multiple or large-scale dental work on one person.

The free cleaning is only done on persons who have an income less than 200 percent that of the Federal Poverty Level guidelines for the continental United States. The income levels can be found on the N.C. Dental Society’s Website.

“With the state of the economy, people do not have dental insurance,” said local dentist Scott Vines. “I think we’ll be kind of amazed by how many people show up for this clinic.”

Although proof of income is not necessary, participants will be required to fill out forms asking for income information.

“We kind of figure if you stand in line for five, six hours to get a tooth taken out, then you probably have a great need,” said Vines.

Though dental exams will begin at 6 a.m., lines usually begin forming around midnight. It is suggested you bring supplies, such as food, drink and proper clothing, for waiting periods.

If a person is further back in line on Friday night and the cutoff occurs before they are seen, it is suggested that person stays in line throughout the evening. Otherwise that person will lose his or her spot and will be moved to the back of the line when they return on Saturday.

A group of Rockingham County residents gathered May 3 to discuss what is needed to pull off such an event.

Financing is a large part of what is needed. So far the organization has been able to raise $17,050 through checks and pledges from various people and organizations in the community. However, an additional $8,000 is needed, for a total of $25,000.

Volunteers are also needed for the event days and July 7 to help set up. The organization expects to have 400 to 500 people needing care that day and needs enough volunteers to help support a crowd that size.

“We know there’s a great need out there,” said Vines. “There’s more need than what we can provide.”

The organization is looking for different types of people to volunteer, not just dentists. It needs to fill positions for directing traffic and parking, registering patients, patient escorts, food services and people who enjoy sitting around talking for patient checkout. It is expected that at least 40 volunteers will be needed each day.

“Forty a day would be a good number,” said Vines. “That number will depend on how many dentists they can get as well.”

The hours for volunteers are separated into different shifts. Each shift will last about six hours, but volunteers can choose their times on a volunteer form that can be found at www.ncdental.org.