Tooth taxi: a novel approach to dentistry
Most people are used to sitting in a pristine waiting room before they go to get their teeth examined by their local dentist.
But how would you feel about waiting to get your oral check up in a car park before having a tooth removed inside a truck?
One American state has gone for the scheme which has been dubbed the Tooth Taxi.
It has been reported that kids in the state of Oregon have been found to have the poorest dental hygiene in the whole of the United States, so this not-for-profit dentistry service has been wheeled out to chip away at the issue.
The Tooth Taxi is a truck that moves around the Oregon providing free oral health care to kids that haven’t got a dentist or health insurance.
Grant money has been used to fund the scheme and many neighbourhood dentists have volunteered to help free of charge.
Gaby Birruete visited the Tooth Taxi to get a filling replaced because she did not have health insurance. Talking to Katu.com Gaby said: “If you don’t have this done you might lose all your teeth and all your teeth are really important because you can chew all your food with them.”
Gaby’s mum lost her job two months ago and to have the dental work that she needed would have cost her mother a quarter of her monthly unemployment check.
Problems are still worsening however as now the Tooth Taxi is having refuse treatment to roughly 20 to 25 per cent of the children that seek its services due to high demand.
One dentist from Albany said he had never known how great the need was for dental care amongst Oregon’s poorer communities whilst he worked in private practice. Retired dentist Dr. Mike Goger who now volunteers with Tooth Taxi, told Katu.com: “We haven’t hardly scratched the surface of need.
“We’re doing a lot of good, but in the big picture it’s a little bit of a lot of good.”
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