Marble Hill clinic getting $545,000

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Dental care in Bollinger County will get a boost of $545,590 over the next three years from the Missouri Foundation for Health, the not-for-profit organization that focuses on the state's poor and uninsured.

The money will allow Cross Trails Medical Center to expand oral health care at its Marble Hill clinic beginning in 2007.

Cynthia Hayes, the program officer for the Missouri Foundation for Health, said the needs of the population using the clinic made it an appealing plan.

"We looked at their target population, which is 100 percent rural, it's 32 percent uninsured and it's 51 percent below the federal poverty level. So that's good for the initiative, and it fits the mission of our foundation," she said.

The clinic now employs one dentist who sees patients one day every week and a full-time dental hygienist. Cross Trails CEO Vicki Smith said the medical center plans to use the funds to hire a full-time dentist -- probably from a state dental school -- renovate and double the size of the clinic and equip a van with a portable dental kit to do checkups in places like rural schools.

"Dentists are the hardest thing to acquire in the rural areas," Hayes said. "We see a lot of times clinics have a salary for a dentist, and then three months or four months or even six months later they call back and they still haven't filled the position."

Dr. William Chouinard, a dentist based in Sikeston, Mo., who sees patients at the clinic once a week, said the added capability will help a lot of people.

"There's a big need. You really can't see everyone now. There wouldn't be enough time with three dentists, let alone with one who comes in one day a week," he said.

Chouinard said many of the patients he sees rarely if ever have sat in a dentist's chair.

"For most of them it's been years, whether it's because of finances or fear," he said, adding, "Even once a year would help with lots of these cases."

He said under the current setup it's not unusual for a patient who needs a follow-up procedure to face months of waiting because the office is booked.

In 2005, Medicaid stopped covering most optional dental care for adults, excepting only some services for primary caretakers, pregnant women and the blind. Patients at Marble Hill pay as little as 50 percent of the cost through a sliding fee based on income.

But even that, Chouinard said, is too often used to treat catastrophic cases like cracked or dead teeth. He sees dental education as the best way to avoid those cases.

"One of main things that would help a lot is just getting more education on oral care. We try to do that with screenings in the schools with the hygienist. Just educating what taking care of your teeth will do would be good, so they're not coming in with broken-off teeth and toothaches," he said.

The money and the mobile unit will allow Cross Trails to increase the frequency of those screenings.

Marble Hill has one dentist with a private practice office. Dr. Mark Milde said he has practiced there for more than 30 years and has always accepted Medicaid patients.

The Cross Trails Center will treat 2,440 additional patients over the next three years because of the funds, Hayes said.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245