As a nonprofit dental center delivering oral health services to central Maine for 24 years, Waterville Community Dental Center (WCDC) has naturally shared goals with Impact2032, especially the vision for health: children and adults in Kennebec County will have opportunities to engage in healthy behaviors and leverage prevention and wellness services.
One key element on which WCDC is working is to continue improve access to dental services. Despite working to capacity within the office and providing over 9,000 patient visits last year, there are many more individuals in the community still unable to access care.
Working with other oral health centers and advocates throughout the state, a model for community-based care has been developed to provide an additional route for oral health care, care that can be delivered within the community where patients live and go to school or work.
WCDC currently has a program in community Head Starts, coordinated with Kennebec Valley Community Action Program and Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation. Enrolled children receive preventive and early interventional care through a dental hygienist who sees them in their classroom. Dental records including photographs collected by the hygienist are sent securely to the dentist in the dental office who completes the examination and coordinates a treatment plan with the hygienist.
In this program, 75 to 80% of the children are being kept healthy in their community. All children enrolled in the program become established patients of WCDC and if they have more complex dental needs are seen at the office for any needed additional care.
This is a model that can be expanded to other community members and sites, including older school age children in their schools, elderly patients in long term care facilities, and special needs individuals in residential facilities. To do so requires building a larger workforce to deliver community-based care, a project that statewide partners including WCDC are actively working on.
