PCRMC Smile Mobile

Since it first wheeled into action three years ago, Phelps County Regional Medical Center’s Smile Mobile Dental Clinic in Rolla has provided free dental care to some 5,000 low-income children. Staffed by three hospital employees – a pediatric dentist and two dental hygienists – the tooth-white, 34-foot Winnebago is fully equipped as a dentist’s office.

It visits schools throughout Phelps County and the surrounding central Missouri area to provide teeth cleaning, x-rays, fillings, extractions and other dental care the children wouldn’t get the chance to receive otherwise.

The program also offers courses in dental education that have reached 43,000 students.

The Beginning

The Smile Mobile is the brainchild of Mathew Ausmus, the clinic’s pediatric dentist. He modeled it on another Missouri initiative called Miles for Smiles. The Rolla mobile clinic treats students who lack dental insurance coverage and meet certain income guidelines, and while it targets children in kindergarten through sixth grade, it treats older children in need as well.

“Improving the lives of children through dental care is my mission,” Ausmus said. “When I retired from the military, I wanted to give back to the community and this was a perfect fit. Low-income children and their families frequently feel cast aside when it comes to dental care. They deserve the same premium dental care that every child in this country deserves and with the Smile Mobile, they get it.”

Who Can Participate

Schools are eligible to participate in Smile Mobile services if they are located within a 50-mile radius of Rolla and demonstrate a need for dental services.

Participating schools provide power, water and security for the dental van while it’s stationed at the school. Schools must also agree to accept dental education provided by Smile Mobile staff in the classrooms. The Smile Mobile is stationed at each school for one to two weeks.

Program Funding

More than half of the students in the service area qualify for free and reduced lunch in school; 27% of them don’t qualify for Medicaid but still can’t afford dental services.

The Phelps County Community Partnership, a coalition of local agencies and other health and social service organizations, helped the hospital launch the clinic, which now sees about 64 patients per week in mostly rural Missouri.

The Missouri Foundation for Health provides the bulk of the program’s funding. “This community has a great reputation for collaboration and achieving results, and the Smile Mobile is a stellar example of what our community is capable of doing,” said John Denbo, CEO of the 242-bed hospital, and a member of the community partnership.

Kay McMurtrey, superintendent of Phelps County Schools, gives the program high marks. “The need is enormous and the Smile Mobile is doing an incredible job of meeting that need,” she said.

For more information about the Smile Mobile, please call (573) 308-5952.

This article first appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of AHA News