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'Intendance' has double meaning during Dental Mission Calendar week

Published on Mon, February seven, 2022

By: Ruth Cummins, ricummins@umc.edu

His wife Lakina stayed on him about information technology, merely even so, Leroy Hobson hadn't gotten his teeth cleaned since 1976.

That changed the starting time of February, when the couple came to the School of Dentistry on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus. Leroy had an engagement for a teeth cleaning, and Lakina was to be evaluated for other dental procedures as function of the school's annual Dental Mission Week.

"They need cleaning. I'm not going to lie," said Leroy, a career roofer and Florence resident. Life got busy, he said, and a trip to the dentist simply took a dorsum seat.

They are amid about 500 Mississippians, many of them veterans, who received intendance ranging from routine cleaning to more complex work requiring render trips. An almanac staple since 2017, Dental Mission Week is a articulation effort involving volunteers from the schools of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, Wellness Related Professions and Medicine, along with dental students and residents, dental hygiene students, and volunteer dentists and staff from local practices.

First-yr School of Dentistry students, from left, Mary Beth Gillespie, Kathryn Butler, Landon Natthews and Mary Agnes Mestayer entertain Pecan Park Uncomplicated students with lessons on oral health.

Also, 477 students at Jackson's Pecan Park Elementary received oral hygiene products, including electric toothbrushes, when offset-year dental students traveled Feb. 4 to the school'southward campus. That endeavor was a scaled-downwards version of Give Kids A Smile, a traditional staple of Dental Mission calendar week that before the pandemic brought hundreds of students to the School of Dentistry for teeth cleanings.

The goal is to provide much-needed dental care to underserved and uninsured adults and children. Information technology particularly takes in vulnerable populations, including veterans and the homeless.

Trimmed down this yr to three days, Dental Mission Week has a 2nd purpose that's only equally important as a patient'southward oral health. Students learn how to become servant leaders in their communities, and they proceeds valuable hands-on experience, not just in dental procedures, just in making their patients feel welcome and comfortable.

Patient Gwendolyn Johnson fills out paperwork before getting a dental procedure during Dental Mission Week.

"They show such love and treat people who can't afford dentistry," said Gwendolyn Johnson of Jackson, who was seen for a molar that was giving her hurting. "It gives me joy to see people who are so kind and caring."

Melody Longino, the schoolhouse'due south manager of ambulatory operations and Dental Mission Week coordinator, said those who work and learn in the Schoolhouse of Dentistry are genuine in their concern for patients.

Longino

"Dental Mission Week is just 1 style the SOD can express its compassion for life, beloved and humanity for others," she said.

Services offered include extractions, cleanings, and fillings and root canals to the front teeth. Other problems are sometimes detected that can require follow-up, said Catherine Gatewood, a dental hygiene educator in the Department of Periodontics and Preventive Science.

She and dozens of faculty members and community dentists were on hand to guide starting time- through fourth-twelvemonth dental students as they gave care to patients, commencement with check-in and continuing throughout their visit. First-year students walked patients from stop to terminate. 2d-year students took vital signs and temperatures, making sure patients were healthy for their procedures, and dental hygiene students provided teeth cleanings.

The intendance progressed to third- and 4th-year students performing extractions and more in-depth cleanings requiring localized anesthesia for patients with periodontal disease.

Dental hygiene educator Catherine Gatewood answers questions from fourth-twelvemonth dental student Chris Fincher as he and other students treat patients with periodontal affliction during Dental Mission Week.

"They've worked so hard," Gatewood said of all the students, but in particular fourth-year students who must pass "competencies" to show they have mastered certain procedures.

"This is their second to the concluding competency for their periodontal course, and sometimes, it's difficult to discover the right patient for this one," she said. "We're glad to be able to practice that this week. We don't compromise any intendance. For every procedure these students exercise, they get evaluated."

Also receiving services was Brookhaven resident and U.S. Army veteran Curtis Lamar Spencer Sr. His service spanned 1975-90, and his work as a maintenance mechanic took him to assignments in Germany and Georgia.

U.S. Army veteran Curtis Spencer answers screening questions from fourth-year dental hygiene student Rachel Loma, left, and third-year dental hygiene student Madeline Guest.

"I become to the VA for medical care, and I saw that all I have to do is fill out a class to get my teeth cleaned here," Spencer said. "I commonly try to take care of my hygiene. Everybody needs their teeth."

As he walked into one of the school's handling clinics, he was greeted by fourth-year dental hygiene educatee Rachel Hill. "I'll be doing your cleaning today," she said, ushering him to the examination area and introducing him to third-yr dental hygiene educatee Madeline Guest, who was to detect and acquire.

"Are you feeling OK today?" Hill asked Spencer. "Do you accept any sensitivity anywhere?"

She completed an initial exam, asking Spencer to roll his natural language onto the roof of his mouth then that she could go a closer look. "We're going to try to get you signed upwards for some X-rays," Hill told him.

Hobson also got plenty of attention from a grouping of dental students who not just took his claret pressure and temperature, but besides screened him for oral cancer by searching for symptoms such every bit mouth ulcers or swelling in his neck.

Remley

Helping to oversee the screenings was Dr. Spencer Remley, a start-twelvemonth oral surgery resident. "A lot of people will be more willing to go to their dentist than their primary care provider, so dentists oftentimes recognize oral cancer first," he said. "Early detection is huge."

"Are yous in whatever pain?" second-year dental student Aubrey Holland asked Hobson. And then, the room erupted with skillful-natured laughter when she inadvertently asked him another screening question: "Are you pregnant?"

"Do you take whatever allergies? Are you taking medications for your blood pressure?" Kingdom of the netherlands asked. Hobson was cleared to walk to a treatment area to brainstorm his teeth cleaning.

Lakina Hobson watched as her husband'due south treatment progressed. "There'south a lot of learning going on," she said.

Taking in the day were first-year dental students Denton Garvey and Logan Hadaway. They didn't accept direct patient care duties, but their learning was invaluable.

"D1 students are mainly in grade and the lab, and so getting to see patient interaction is important," Hadaway said.

"It'due south of import to learn about service," Garvey said. "Every solar day, we become out and serve our patients, and that's an of import quality to larn nigh dentistry."

Longino couldn't agree more.

"Dental Mission Week is not just an upshot. It's food for the soul," she said. "This upshot restores promise and faith that there is all the same kindness in the world."

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Source: https://www.umc.edu/news/News_Articles/2022/02/Dental-Mission-Week.html

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