BY PATRICK LAIR
ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD | Posted: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:00 am
Traveling dental office will spend a week at Foster Elementary
SWEET HOME - The Dental Foundation of Oregon's Tooth Taxi kicked off its maiden voyage Monday when it rolled into the Foster Elementary School parking lot and began screening students for needed dental work.
The 38-foot Winnebago, covered in colorful graphics and slogans that remind you to brush your teeth, will spend a week in Sweet Home before moving on to other locations throughout the state.
The goal of the taxi, organizers said, is to provide free dental services to under-insured and uninsured students with no regular dentist.
It provides services free to the students and the community.
"It's just a really positive program," said Mary Daly, the program manager. "We're really excited to be starting off this tour."
The "taxi" is a $500,000 modified van, which includes two operatory units and a waiting room.
Two volunteer dentists and Daly will travel with the van on a 14-city tour of the Willamette Valley this fall, spending a week at a time in each community. They hope to visit all corners of the state in 2009.
The taxi program expects to serve around 3,000 schoolchildren each year, providing screenings, cleanings, sealants, X-rays, fillings, minor oral surgery and oral health education.
The taxi service is funded by donations and professional support through a partnership among the Oregon Dental Foundation, OEA Choice Trust and the ODS Companies.
Dr. Weston Heringer, a retired pediatric dentist from Salem, is the primary care provider and the taxi's driver.
"There's a little more to driving this than my pickup," he said.
Heringer said that tooth decay is a preventable disease and early prevention is a message they want to pass on to kids.
After 28 years as a dentist in Salem, Heringer said he's at a point in his life where he can travel around the state and convey that message.
"I've done a lot of charity work overseas and people always say you can do the same thing in America. So here we are," he said.
Retired Albany dentist Mike Goger is also working with the taxi. He said he does so because the cause is worthy.
"There is a huge problem with accessibility," he said. "We're taking direct dental care to the neediest areas of kids."
To learn more, go to www.smileonoregon.org.