Florida mobile dentist helps the poor

Sample News Big

The Florida Baptist Mobile Dental Unit, a custom-made dentist clinic on wheels, has been moving across the state to offer free dental check-ups and oral care for those unable to afford it. The forty foot long bus, which is prepared with sterilisation and x-ray equipment, has visited over thirty neighbourhoods across the state to offer tooth extractions, fillings and teeth cleaning to over two thousand children and adults. A volunteer dentist at the facility said, ‘There is a big need out there. It is a wonderful service for all the people that can’t afford regular dental care.’

The mobile dental clinic, which is funded by Florida Baptists’ gifts to the Maguire State Mission Offering, is able to run thanks to the dentists and assistants that volunteer their services. The mobile dental unit runs annually and, last year, over two hundred dentists and over one hundred and eighty assistants offered their services to help keep the unit running.

The director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Church and Community Department, Marc Johnston, was quoted as saying; ‘With Florida’s recessionary economy, this ministry is especially important. One of the first things to go is people’s dental or medical insurance. They look for different resources bit there are not many programs for the indigent, except for their children.’

Retired dentist Al Warren, residing in South Florida, said of the mobile unit; ‘…it gets around and it provides the care for people that can’t afford and desperately need it.’

Join this Discussion

Comments are closed.