A successful MOM event focuses on:

• Providing free access to critical dental care while placing a high priority on patients suffering from dental infections or pain.

• Raising public awareness of the increasing difficulty adults and children with limited financial resources face in accessing critical dental care.

• Challenging patients, policymakers and dental professionals to work together to reduce dental disease and improve the oral health of Wisconsin residents, including those who have been promised care by the state.

The Wisconsin MOM program provides care to the uninsured, the under-insured and anyone who otherwise has difficulty getting to a dentist. Those who show up for care, children and adults, and don't have any medically compromising condition that would prohibit them from receiving care are seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Wisconsin legislators comment on MOM, dental access

One goal of the WDA Mission of Mercy is to challenge patients, policymakers and dental professionals to work together to reduce dental disease and improve the oral health of Wisconsin residents, including those who have been promised care by the state.

A special invitation to tour the MOM free dental clinic near Wausau in June 2011 was extended to state, local and national policymakers to help them see the human faces of Wisconsin’s dental access problem.

Five state legislators and Wisconsin's Medicaid director accepted the WDA invite. Each was asked:

1. What is your impression after touring the WDA Mission of Mercy project?
2. What do you think needs to be done from a state perspective to prevent the need for this type of large-scale charity care effort in the future?

Whether you live and/or work in one of the legislative districts represented by the five elected officials listed below, their comments demonstrate WDA’s effort to educate legislators about the broader dental barriers-to-care issue by connecting them with actual patients who need dental care and seek to obtain it at our MOM event.

After viewing a legislator clip, please consider sending an e-mail thanking the elected official for visiting MOM and inviting him or her to work with you and the WDA on viable dental access solutions. Find contact information for state and federal legislators by clicking here.

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Patient education

An important element of the Wisconsin MOM program is patient education. Education is the most cost-effective way to reduce oral disease among the low-income population, including MA patients. A program to help patients understand the importance of good daily oral hygiene practices, healthy diet and routine preventive dental care is an essential part of every WDA MOM event.

In addition to receiving needed dental treatment, MOM patients learn the importance of good daily oral hygiene practices, healthy diet and routine preventive dental care. It's a fact that such things ultimately save money and time in the dentist office. 

They learn about the negative effects of soda, sugary beverages and tobacco products, the link between dental health and overall health, oral cancer and more.