IMPRESSIONS
Helping Hands
By Dr . Bruce R . Terry Editor
It ’ s dark as I drive to the Liacouras Center in North Philadelphia at 3:30 a . m . The air is humid and warm . The first heat wave of the year has descended upon Philadelphia , with a high temperature of 94 degrees predicted for today . It is May 31 , 2013 , and we are about to see 1,000 dental patients .
As I pull around Montgomery Avenue and into the parking lot on 15 th Street , I can already see a line of more than 200 patients . By 7 a . m . that line would be more than 1,000 . By 9 a . m . we would have to tell everyone that we had reached our capacity for the day and to return on Saturday . The first MOM-n-PA dental Mission of Mercy was underway .
It all started about two years ago at an ADA Annual Session when a small group of Pennsylvania delegates learned about the Mission of Mercy movement . As one of his goals as president of the PDA , Dr . Bernie Dishler wanted to have a large dental mission in Philadelphia . He selected Dr . Gary Davis as the general chair and then a committee of 10 others was assembled to make this dream a reality . Our nonprofit , MOM-n-PA , was incorporated in May of 2012 .
On May 30 , 2013 , the Liacouras Center in North Philadelphia was transformed into a 120 chair dental clinic . With the help of the America ’ s Dentists Care Foundation ( ADCF ), we were getting ready to see nearly 2,000 dental patients over the next two days . And what an amazing two days it was . During that time we treated nearly 1,800 dental patients . The totals of what was done include :
• 1,820 patients registered
• 1,745 treated - many had medical complications that were referred to the appropriate facility - over 50 had undiagnosed high blood pressure
• 324 prophys
• 171 full mouth debridements
• 662 restorations
• 55 root canals
• 19 partial dentures
• 1,213 extractions
• 52 children seen
• Estimated value of services - $ 850,000
The scope of what was done during these two treatment days was amazing . Henry Schein was able to secure five panographic machines and five Dexis sensors to help with radiography . Thousands of dollars of donated dental supplies came from Henry Schein , Benco Dental , Patterson Dental , S . S . White and Dentsply . Without question , this was the largest donated dental event ever seen in Pennsylvania . The two-day event was only matched in its grandeur by the preparations that happened in the year prior . After an initial meeting in April 2012 , the committee began its task of formulating a plan . Many similar events called MOMs ( for Mission of Mercy ) have been taking place around the country since 2000 . These events have provided care to more than 100,000 individuals at a donated care value estimated to be in excess of $ 50 million dollars .
The members of the committee first decided on the size and scope of the event . A target population of North Philadelphia was determined to be in desperate need of dental services . In October 2011 , Pennsylvania Medicaid ended comprehensive adult dental care and many patients could no longer receive root canal treatment or crowns . Many patients either received extractions or no treatment .
The committee , which included Dr . Amid Ismail , Dean at the Kornberg School of Dentistry at Temple University , decided that the Liacouras Center , Temple ’ s basketball arena , was the ideal location . Fundraising began with grant proposals being sent to any organization that we thought would contribute . Early on we found out that many foundations don ’ t give to first time events like ours . We did eventually raise the needed funds to do this event right .
Because we had not done this previously we relied upon a how-to manual that had been published by the ADCF . Dr . Davis , who personally had attended several other MOM events , encouraged the other committee members and leads to also attend MOMs to get an idea of how the program works . I can only tell you that visiting another MOM is nothing like hosting one yourself . We were all novices going into set up on May 30 . We all left as experts on June 1 !
Besides selecting a venue and securing the needed monies , we had to deal with volunteers . Dr . Ron Heier recruited and managed over 1,000 volunteers for our dental mission . Besides dentists , we were helped by dental assistants , dental students , hygienists , dental office staff , dental technicians , dental sales people and lay volunteers . Spouses and children of dentists provided needed support services in exit interviews and registration . Without this army of volunteers this type of event is just not possible .
As I walked around the area floor both days , I was so happy to see so many faces of dentists and their staff that are not directly involved with the Pennsylvania Dental Association . These were local and suburban dentists who got the message and saw the need to help . There were dental technicians and dental sales people who donated their days for the North Philadelphia community . My greatest
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