Free Dental Clinic Reaches Out To Those Who Can’t Afford A Dentist Visit
Local Dentist Dr John Beninato normally doesn’t work on Saturdays. However, this Saturday morning was different.
(Left: A patient receives pain medication before an extraction at the Floyd County Baptist Association’s Free Dental Clinic)
Parked in the back of the Floyd County Baptist Association’s office located in the Riverside community was a state of the art, 400 thousand dollar mobile dental office and Dr. Beninato was hard at work pulling teeth and doing fillings.
Dr. Beninato and other local dentists have been volunteering their time over the past week and working with the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Mobile Health ministry by staffing the convention’s mobile dental office.
According to Floyd County Baptist Association Director Brenda Baldwin, the clinic is held once a year and the next one is scheduled for August of 2009.
Baldwin says local dentists, nurses and dental assistants volunteer their time to provide this service to people free of charge. “These are people who would normally not go to the dentist and suffer through the pain because they do not have dental insurance and can not afford to pay.”
“This is just a blessing” said one woman who had recently stepped out of the dental van with her mouth full of gauze. “I would have never been able to afford this.”
Last year the Dental van traveled 8,100 miles and treated over 3,000 people free of charge.
We normally take appointments two weeks prior to the vans arrival, says Baldwin.
The following doctors donated their time at this week’s dental clinic: Dr. John Beninato, Dr. James Hudson, Dr. Robert Hortman, Dr. Kyle Carney, Dr. Mark Fisher, Dr. Jason Oyler, Dr. Ben Knaak and Dr. John Linatoc.
The following nurses donated their time: Tina Cox, Amber Huckaby, Ginger Parker, Cindy Brock, and Deb Reynolds.
Students from the Coosa Valley Tech Dental assisting program also donated their time.
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