Aiming to address what its executive director calls “a major public health concern,” Blackstone Valley Community Health Care is turning a former bank hall it bought from the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket last year into an 8,000-square-foot dental clinic.
The $2 million project, which was officially launched last week, is the first phase of a major expansion by the nonprofit health center that is also slated to include, after the dental clinic is completed, construction of a new medical facility and possibly a wellness center.
BVCHC serves 15,000 low-income children and adults, almost one-third of them uninsured (most of the rest are on RIte Care, the state’s managed-care Medicaid program). About 2,700 of those patients now receive dental care, said Executive Director Raymond J. Lavoie.
Low-income patients’ access to primary dental care outside BVCHC is limited, and oral surgery services for the poor are virtually beyond reach. “The need for dental care is tremendous in Rhode Island,” said Lavoie.
The new facility, with 10 dental operatories and two surgery suites, will allow BVCHC to offer complete dental care to all its patients. (Only people who receive medical care at BVCHC will be eligible for services, but the center is accepting new patients.)
Funding for the project is coming from several sources, including grants from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Champlin Foundations and legislative grants. BVCHC recognized them at a ceremonial “wall-breaking” at the Main Street site last Monday.
The shortage of dental services for low-income populations in Rhode Island has been a concern for years, especially when it comes to children, and that has led to efforts to meet those needs, said Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island Kids Count.
BVCHC’s project is an “absolutely incredibly positive” step, she said, but overall, “we are concerned dental care is not getting the attention it deserves.” Children need to see a dentist early in life and continue to receive dental care each year in order to avoid problems that can extend beyond their oral health, she said.
“You can’t separate the mouth from the rest of the body,” said Jill Beckwith, a policy analyst at Kids Count. Pain from untreated dental disease can affect children’s eating habits and cause nutritional problems. Preschool children who do not receive dental care are more likely to develop speech problems. Dental infections also can affect a child’s ability to concentrate.
“They can’t pay attention in school; they can’t do their work,” said Bryant.
The capacity of community health centers to treat dental problems has grown rapidly over the past decade, said Beckwith. Providence Community Health Centers opened a dental clinic in 2005, focusing on children and pregnant women, and increased its staff last fall.
The Molar Express, a Ronald McDonald Care Mobile jointly operated by a collaborative of Comprehensive Community Action Program, East Bay Community Action Program, and Thundermist Health Center, launched last September. The mobile dental facility travels throughout the state, serving children at more than 100 sites in 20 communities.
BVCHC’s dental facility is expected to be completed in August, and the Northwest Health Center plans to open a community health center in Foster with dental operations sometime in the second half of 2007.
Still, finding dentists to staff these clinics is an issue as well, Lavoie said. Rhode Island doesn’t have a dental school in the state, and RIte Care reimbursements for dental care are low.
As it is, RIte Care only covers dental care for children up to age 6 – with the benefits managed by UnitedHealthcare of New England. A bill before the General Assembly would raise the age limit to 8.
