This is a sample of WDA members’ charitable dental care efforts, demonstrating that “Dentists Do Serve (DDS)” their communities and “Dentists Make a Difference (DMD)” for underserved children and adults. Charitable care is wonderful, but it is not a viable system for delivering dental care to the state’s estimated 875,000 Medicaid and BadgerCare patients. Many of these individuals have serious treatment needs and struggle to find a dental home. Patients suffer when lawmakers promise care, but fail to provide sufficient funding to ensure access.

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Charitable Dentistry 

Volunteer data submissions by WDA members show 227 dentists provided more than $2.75 million in free treatment to 14,591 low-income patients in 2007.

Data from a recent two-year period shows individual dentists donate $10,000 - $12,000 worth of charitable care annually through their private dental practices. This charitable dental care is in addition to uncollected accounts receivable, non-reimbursed medical assistance care, Give Kids A Smile, WDA Foundation’s Donated Dental Services, Head Start screening projects and community clinic volunteering.

Donated Dental Services 

Affiliated with the WDA Foundation, Donated Dental Services was initiated in 1998 to help disabled, elderly and medically-compromised people obtain comprehensive dental care they could not otherwise receive. DDS clients cannot work, because of their age or disabilities and public aid programs such as Medicaid and Medicare do not meet their oral health needs. Some 1,558 disabled, elderly and medically-compromised people have received more than $3.75 million in free, comprehensive treatment to date through DDS. As of early 2008, 523 Wisconsin dentists and 110 dental labs throughout the Midwest had donated their professional services to DDS. Funds for staff support and lab costs are provided by the Department of Health and Family Services. For every one dollar in state funding, participating dentists donate an average of eight dollars in services and materials. Dental labs have donated over $305,000 in supplies and services. 

Give Kids A Smile in Wisconsin  

Despite harsh winter conditions and a recurring no-show problem in several areas, more than 300 dentists with help from nearly 700 dental hygienists and assistants, dental and dental hygiene students and instructors and local volunteers, donated more than $730,000 in oral health education, exams and treatment to 5,540 of Wisconsin’s low-income children in recognition of the sixth annual Give Kids A Smile national dental access day. Wisconsin GKAS events have provided $2.75 million in donated dental care to 13,250 low-income children since 2003. 

Community Volunteer Dental Clinics  

Volunteer dentists play an important role in providing services to patients at numerous free or low-cost clinics statewide, such as Madre Angela Dental Clinic in Milwaukee, Tri-County Community Dental Clinic in Appleton, Healthcare Network in Racine and St. Joseph’s Medical and Dental Clinic in Waukesha. 

Dentistry IS Improving Americans' Oral Health  

In April 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued “Trends in Oral Health Status – United States, 1988-1994 and 1999-2004”. Improvements in the oral health of Americans of all ages are noted: seven percent more seniors still have some of their natural teeth; moderate and severe gum disease is down 50 percent among adults ages 20 – 64; and tooth decay in the permanent teeth of school-age children has declined.

The Kaiser Family Foundation “State Health Facts” Web site also shows good news for Wisconsin residents’ oral health with 76 percent of residents having had their teeth cleaned by a dental professional in the last year compared to a national average of 70 percent. Nationwide, 19 percent of adults have had all of their natural teeth extracted compared to just 17 percent of Wisconsin adults.