The Pike County Well being Division opened a brand new adolescent dental clinic on March 11 to handle kids’s oral well being wants and, hopefully, shut the oral well being wants of kids to hyperlink them with everlasting dental well being.
Pike County Well being director Tammy Riley mentioned the clinic is working in affiliation with the College of Pikeville Tanner School of Dental Medication, which is able to present medical providers for the clinic.
The adolescent clinic will probably be open two days each month and the hours will increase because the wants and the dental faculty develop.
“The affiliation with the Tanner School of Dental Medication will increase the providers as their variety of college students grows,” Riley mentioned. “We plan to collaborate with different native universities and public well being companies to shut the oral well being hole throughout the subsequent decade.”
The clinic, mentioned Riley, presents two remedy rooms, X -ray panoramic gear and a separate ready space for dental sufferers, he mentioned. The clinic workforce consists of dental hygienists, attendees and suppliers
“Dental medical care is essential as a result of along with issues equivalent to tooth decay, cavities and tooth loss, poor oral well being results in faculty absenteeism and makes kids have a poor focus within the classroom.
“The intense penalties attributable to low entry to oral well being care might embrace speech delays, abscesses, meningitis and osteomyelitis,” he continued.
Riley mentioned that dental and oral well being wants in Pike County are complicated as a result of the world has a restricted variety of suppliers. As well as, he defined that 70 p.c of the youngsters within the space belief Medicaid and the system reimbursement construction additional complicates the state of affairs.
“We now have needed to delay the opening a number of occasions and initially we anticipated to open the previous fall,” Riley mentioned. “We at the moment are prepared and really excited in regards to the opening of the clinic. It will likely be a sport change. I’m keen about this new service that we can supply. ”