If you’ve never had dental pain, consider yourself lucky! When a tooth hurts, it can be hard to focus on anything else. Regular activities — even eating and sleeping — can become herculean tasks with dental pain. A visit to the dentist can usually solve the problem…but for many people in the U.S., dental care is hard to come by. The rising cost of dental care, combined with gaps in insurance, make seeing the dentist nearly impossible for some of our neighbors. But at Medical Teams, we’ve seen the ‘dental care difference.’

It’s part of why we’re committed to caring for our neighbors here at home. The dental care difference is, quite literally, a reason to smile. Without pain, and with confidence restored, seeing the dentist can help people start smiling again.

Our Care & Connect Mobile Clinics offer urgent dental care, health screenings, and connect people to further health care resources. Our big red buses have become symbols of hope care across the Northwest. Alongside our community partners, we’re helping fill the gaps for people without other access to health care in the U.S.

Today, we’re sharing stories from some of our patients in the U.S. who have felt the dental care difference in their own lives. Read on to hear from Jack, Mary, and Lamaure!

Meet Lamaure

Lamaure starts with gratitude, even in the midst of hardship. As he waited for the dentist, he repeated how thankful he was for the staff, volunteers, and funders that make Care & Connect Mobile clinics possible.

“I appreciate these people immensely,” Lamaure shares.

It was his fourth visit to Medical Teams for help with his teeth. After losing his job early in the pandemic, he also lost his dental insurance. He’s been coming to Medical Teams since. Today, he’s there to have a specific problem tooth addressed. Lamaure hoped the pain would go away. But instead, it got much worse.

He says, once the pain is severe,

“Boom, the red bus. That is a savior, right there!”

Trying to see a regular dentist can take almost 3 months, Lamaure explains. He has access to city services. But with such long wait times, coupled with excruciating pain, those services tend not to be worth it.

For Lamaure, the dental care difference is less stress. If he could tell other people to do one thing about Medical Teams, he would say, “Get the info, and get help. Every time I come here I leave with a whole bunch of stress shaved off.”

Meet Jack

Jack, with his girlfriend, Layia, came from Vancouver, Washington. They drove all the way to the clinic in Portland for Jack’s tooth pain. His tooth was so painful they searched for the first free clinic they could find, which brought them to the big red bus. It was their first time with Medical Teams, but if they have tooth pain again, they’d be back!

Layia says,

“Everyone was nice, supportive, and very helpful.”

Jack agreed, saying it was a good experience all around.

Jack had a painful tooth extracted by one of our veteran volunteer dentists, Dr. Kurt. Dr. Kurt also shared lots of tips on oral health care to prevent such extreme tooth pain in the future. The dental care difference for Jack? The relief of being pain free again!

Meet Mary

Mary, a manager at Subway, came in last fall with the hopes of having a problem tooth pulled in time for Christmas. After having already missed a Thanksgiving dinner, she was motivated to get her painful teeth taken care of.

She’d driven down from Long Beach, Washington to Portland on her day off from work. She’s been coming to Care & Connect Mobile Clinics for a long time.

She says,

“I’m just glad that you guys are here. I was panicking because when I pulled around the block I didn’t see the bus right away. I was relieved when I drove this way and saw it!”

Mary tried to make an appointment with a dentist, but the cost of pulling a tooth proved too much. With the holidays rapidly approaching, Mary wasn’t sure she could afford it.

Instead, she found us. Clinics like ours have become a lifeline for her and her family. She had plans to take her brother and daughter to a clinic the next week. That’s a dental care difference that benefits the whole family!

The dental care difference

As Jack, Mary, and Lamaure’s stories demonstrate, dental care matters! Our Care & Connect Clinics help fill crucial gaps in our health care system. While much media attention focuses on international crises  as it should, from Sudan to the Darien Gap – it’s important to remember our neighbors here at home who are hurting, too.

You can support a Care & Connect Clinic today! Your gift will provide critically urgent dental care, health screenings, and connect people to resources. Give now to make a dental care difference in a neighbor’s life!

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