IF YOU GOWhat: Help A Child Smile mobile dental office, dental visits for children 4 and older.Where: Catoosa County Library at the Benton Place Campus.Cost: Insurance, Peachcare, Medicaid, AmericGroup, Peach State, WellCare and sliding scale self-pay service.When: Monday and Tuesday, June 11 and 12. Appointments required.For information or to make appointments call 770-760-7900.
One of the Help A Child Smile mobile dental offices will be at Catoosa County Public Library next Monday and Tuesday, June 11-12.
Since 2008, these rolling offices have visited twice each year, seeing new patients and providing regular check-ups for children age 4 and older.
This is not a no-cost service. It is a privately owned dental practice that accepts dental insurance, Peachcare, Medicaid or cash payments, but one that operates just as a brick-and-mortar office would. The primary difference is that the dentist office comes to the child rather than the other way round.
"Dr. Mark Shurett was having trouble getting kids into the office. The only time he saw them was when they had pain," said Tina Titshaw, director of administration for Help A Child Smile. "This is a privately owned business."
Since getting children to the dentist seemed a common problem for parents during his 14 years of family practice, Shurett started taking his office to schools in 1993.
What started as one mobile unit grew. By 2006 there were 10 equipped clinics and now there are 14 such offices that visit 90 of Georgia's counties during the school year, Titshaw said.
School nurses have told the Help A Child Smile staff that as many as half the students they see come for dental-related problems, and records show more than 50 percent of the students treated at the mobile office say it is their first visit to a dentist.
"We have a lot of seasoned staff and all our dentists enjoy working with children," Titshaw said.
During June and July, the schools' summer vacation, six dental units travel the state to allow follow-up visits and provide first-time service to students who require a 3300 form (hearing, vision and dental exams) before they can enroll in pre-K or kindergarten.
"We have tons of patients in your area," Titshaw said. "There are 1,074 active files for children in Catoosa County that could either be eligible for follow-up visits or who have completed treatment. It seems like a lot, but that is not even touching those who will see the dentist when they have an emergency."
Tiger Creek Elementary is just one local school regularly visited by the Help A Child Smile mobile clinic during the school year. The dental office operates for a specified period at each school before moving to the next.
During its summertime visits to Catoosa County, the mobile office sets up shop at the public library, which is conveniently located and offers amenities
The mobile office-in-a-bus offers comprehensive dentistry such as cleanings, X-rays, fluoride treatments, sealants, exams and cavity treatments. Each bus arrives with one dentist, one hygienist, one or two assistants and a driver who does double duty as the X-ray technician.
"We only do local anesthetic procedures," Titshaw said. "If more extensive work or surgery is required we refer patients to nearby specialists."
While maintaining his regular practice in Conyers, Help A Child Smile remains special for Shurett.
"He is a good man and his heart in the right place," Titshaw said. "Dr. Shurett wants to make going to the dentist a regular and pain-free experience."