8
S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2017
Home visits for dental care available
DENTAL TEAM
continued from front page
“There are some new techniques
out there where a quick look in the
mouth and they (dental staff) can
see if there are issues going on,”
Health Services Executive Director
Kelly Rowe says. “There is a lot of
time and attention paid to building
a relationship when they are out in
the field or they are at the school.
All of the outreach events and op-
portunities are just building the
relationship and it really is a model
of public health.”
The Health & Wellness Center’s
dental programs are working to
improve the membership’s over-
all oral health by offering quality
dental services like emergency
and comprehensive exams, pre-
ventive and periodontal services,
crown and bridgework, silver and
tooth-colored fillings, root canals,
extractions, deep cleanings, resto-
ration of implants and providing
dentures.
In 2016, the dental pro-
gram added orthodontics to
its services by request of the
membership and the pro-
gram has an open-door poli-
cy for children up to the age
of 5 so they can be seen by a
dentist or hygienist with no
appointment needed.
Initial visits include a re-
view of the member’s medi-
cal history, soft tissue exam,
charting of teeth, oral cancer
examination and X-rays.
The Health & Wellness
Center provides comprehen-
sive out-patient medical and
dental care to Tribal mem-
bers, other Native Ameri-
cans, non-Native employees of the
Tribe and casino, and surrounding
community members.
Home visits are one of the many
helpful and informative programs
the Health & Wellness Center of-
fers for Tribal members regarding
dental care aimed at improving
overall health.
Home visits catch decay early
when there is still something that
can be done and, in some cases,
visits detect decay before it becomes
an issue.
“I knew about putting fluoride on
teeth and I knew that we could re-
verse decay and that getting tooth-
paste into homes is important,”
Blacketer says. “But what I didn’t
realize was that there would be all
these positive side effects and what
it has done is it has connected us
at the dental clinic with our young
families in the community.
“We saw all these barriers go
away and we’re building relation-
ships with other departments and
that makes our department strong.
When you’re sitting on their couch
and you’re holding their babies
and you are talking to them, it’s
just more open and it has been
amazing.”
Blacketer, who is part of a team
of three dentists, two dental hy-
gienists and five dental assistants,
also works with Head Start pro-
gram staff members to visit homes
on a quarterly basis to conduct
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Dental Hygienist Sheila
Blacketer, left, shows students a
picture of a mouth prop, which is
used to help keep the mouth open
during dental procedures, as she
and Tribal Dentist Erin Lange, right,
do a circle time in the Tribe’s Chak
Chak classroom on Tuesday, June 6.
Circle time teaches the children good
dental health and gets them familiar
with what they may encounter
during a dentist visit. At left, Tribal
Dental Hygienist Sheila Blacketer
does a screening on Sapphyre
Zimmer during a home visit.
Courtesy photo
risk assessments on Tribal youth.
Blacketer said Head Start staff
members perform weekly home
visits and that she accompanies
them four times a year to conduct
assessments.
The Tribe’s dentists are Drs. Eric
Webster, Erin Lange and Ryan
Davis. Hygienists are Blacketer
and Erin Muchmore, and the as-
sistants are Donnette Spaulding,
Shelby Hoyt, Rachel Clark and
Tammy Baird. Carrie Brooks and
Whitney VanArsdale are the dental
receptionists.
“Partnering with Head Start has
been huge,” Blacketer says. “We
have had a long history with Head
Start and that goes back since I
have been here 19 years in July.
They know that we are a resource
and it allows us to connect with
other departments, and I think that
is huge.”
Rowe says she is pleased with the
work being done by the dental pro-
gram and she supports it by provid-
ing the best people the center can
hire and by giving employees the
tools they need to do the job well.
“There is a lot of time and atten-
tion paid to building a relationship
when they (dental staff) are out in
the field or they are at the school or
Adult Foster Care or the Elders Ac-
tivity Center,” Rowe says. “By being
able to do the outreach that they do
they are connecting with people on
a level outside of the clinical setting
and building relationships with
trust that reduce anxiety.”
Blacketer says she has developed
a dental health curriculum that
educates children by teaching them
proper brushing habits, nutrition
and how it plays a part in overall
dental health, and combatting de-
cay-causing germs.
Blacketer visits Tribal class-
rooms monthly for a circle time
presentation during which she ex-
plains proper brushing techniques
and those sessions are followed
with a letter to the child’s parents
explaining the activities their
children participated in and how
they, as parents, can emphasize
healthy dental habits and proper
techniques to achieve it.
Blacketer and Webster coordi-
nate with Adult Foster Care Di-
rector Peggy Shaver on client visits
at the Tribe’s facilities in Grand
Ronde every three months.
“We go in and we see all the res-
idents there,” Blacketer says. “We
check for decay. It makes a big
difference.”
Blacketer says a grant from the
American Dental Association helps
the dental team participate in local
events like the annual “Give Kids
a Smile Day” in Willamina schools.
Rowe says the dental team pro-
vides screenings and a fluoride
varnish.
“All of these outreach events and
opportunities are just building re-
lationships and it really is a model
of public health,” Rowe says. “It’s
taking the care to the person where
they are at and engaging them, and
it builds that engagement so they
come to us. With the kids it’s about
developing that relationship early
on so that they are not instantly
fearful. If we can have as much
contact along the way to show them
that we’re not scary and we’re here
to help then we can make sure
things go good.”
Blacketer says the Tribal dental
staff used American Dental Asso-
ciation sponsorships to see 89 stu-
dents in 2016 (and as many as 211
one year) at Willamina’s “Smile”
day and performed $10,000 worth
of dental care.
One of the tools used when as-
sessing children is silver diammine
fluoride, which is a topical medica-
ment used to treat and prevent
cavities. Silver diammine fluoride,
a light-sensitive clear liquid, stains
areas of concern black when applied
to teeth as a way to identify cavities.
“We use that to arrest decay,”
Blacketer says. “It will completely
arrest the cavity and stop it before
it becomes an issue. It stops future
cavities.”
The fluoride treatment replaced
silver nitrates that were used to
prevent cavities from 1920 through
1960. Its use began in 1960 in Chi-
na, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand
and Australia, and was approved
for use in the United States in
2014.
“This technique has saved the
Tribe money in Contract Health
dollars and has provided a safe,
non-invasive way to deal with cav-
ities,” she says.
Blacketer and Rowe say they
are both proud that the Health
& Wellness Center has the latest
equipment and uses the most cur-
rent dental techniques.
“I will say for our dental clinic I
am proud because we are on the
cutting edge of dentistry – we are
using procedures that are very con-
servative, but very preventative,”
Blacketer says.
“We have very up-to-date equip-
ment and techniques that they are
using,” Rowe says. “There are a lot
of preventative things they can do.
Our staff is really good. They have
been here for a long time and they
have been here for the community
and they have been able to get to
know people.”
Blacketer says she is driven by
her ability to perform ongoing
home visits that keep her on top of
the preventive side of dental care.
“I feel good about what we do at
the clinic and what we do out of the
clinic,” Blacketer says. “I think for
me I just have a passion for public
health dentistry because it is more
targeted at prevention and how do
we prevent disease. You can’t drill
your way out of a disease – you
have to prevent it.”
Emergency hours for the Tribe’s
dental program start at 8 a.m.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday and 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
Scheduled visit hours are 8 a.m.
through 5:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday.