A two-day dental clinic in downtown Anchorage will provide free dental care for up to 2,000 Alaskans in need next week.
The clinic -- which will take place at the Dena'ina Center on April 11 and 12 -- aims to provide $1 million in free dental care, on a first-come, first-served basis. It's being sponsored by the non-profit organization Alaska Mission of Mercy, started by retired dentist Julie Robinson and her husband and fellow dentist David Nielson.
The model for this type of free clinic has been used in developing nations for decades, Robinson said, but for many years there was a perception such clinics weren't needed in the U.S.
That is, "(u)ntil they tried one," Nielson said, and people saw the overwhelming need. "There are a lot of people here in this country who fall through the cracks."
The non-profit Mission of Mercy was first formed in Virginia in the early 2000s, and has since expanded to include offshoots in 26 states, with 70 events held over the years. Now, Alaska is part of the affiliation.
Insurance company Moda Health first floated the idea to Robinson in 2011. When the couple retired from private practice in 2012, the timing was right, and they began the long road to making the clinic happen.
"We're more busy now than ever when we were working," Nielson laughed.
The clinic is centered on serving the uninsured, or underinsured, or people who don't have a regular dentists, "people that can't afford to have dental work done for whatever reason," Nielson said. However, all are welcome, he said.
The maximum goal is to provide at least one dental service to up to 1,000 people a day. Around 240 dentists are volunteering, most from within the state. Robinson said it was a "long, difficult recruiting process." Nielson estimated that number accounts for around 30-35 percent of all Alaska dentists in the state. That high turnout "shows you the amount of work it's taken to get the word out there."
All told, around 1,500 volunteers are expected to staff the two-day clinic. And they're excited, Nielson said. "Dentists are used to working in their own world. This is a chance for them to work as a team."
The doors open at 4:30 a.m., and Robinson expects people will be lining up the night before. Treatments start at 6 a.m. and end at 6 p.m. The clinic will cut off the line as soon as they can estimate that they have hit their daily limit, so people aren't waiting needlessly. Dentists will provide at least one full service to each patient, maybe more, as time allows.
Services that will be provided include: Cleanings, fillings, pulling teeth, and root canals on front teeth and X-rays. Dentists also have a limited number of dental appliances to replace missing front teeth.
Services that are not provided include: dentures, dental implants, bridges, root canals on back teeth (molars and bicuspids), crowns, braces and pulling wisdom teeth. No narcotics will be given. Robinson said they want to ensure whatever is done the day of the clinic can be completed in one session, so that patients don't have to seek additional medical help afterwards.
To pull off the event, the Alaska Mission of Mercy has raised about $280,000 in donations, including $25,000 the Alaska Dental Society used to get the fundraising started. Some of those came in the form of large donations -- like $25,000 from Providence Health & Services Alaska, which wants to reduce the number of emergency room visits based around dental care -- and many smaller donations.
Looking forward, the Alaska Mission of Mercy is already planning a Fairbanks event for August 2015. That clinic will be half the size, and thus the organization should be much easier.
Speaking on Friday, Nielson and Robinson had a few details yet to iron out, but the clinic was pretty much set to go. And they are ready.
"It's kind of like a big final exam," Nielson said. "You've studied enough, it's time to take the test."