The Impact of MOM-n-PA
By Dr. Gary S. Davis
The mission of MOM-n-PA is:
1
To relieve the pain and suffering due to dental disease
for the underserved at an annual event in Pennsylvania,
2
Educate patients on preventive measures,
3
Compile data on the dental needs of the underserved,
Surveys also showed that 20.7 percent of patients had visited
a hospital emergency room within the last year. This is not a
good use of health care dollars.
4
Educate policy makers
Actual costs for the 2016 mission were $162,000 and we
had $51,000 of donations-in-kind.
The purpose is: To establish and coordinate an annual dental
mission providing free dental care to the underserved
population in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania utilizing
volunteer dentists, auxillaries and lay volunteers.
• Our inaugural two-day mission took place in Philadelphia
in 2013. With the help of 1,001 volunteers, MOM-n-PA
provided $850,000 in free dental care to 1,820 patients.
• Our second mission took place in Allentown, where we
provided care to 2,047 patients and our 1,020 volunteers
donated $1,004,179 worth of care to those in need.
• Our third mission took place in Harrisburg where
976 volunteers provided $875,905 worth of care
to 1,705 patients.
• Our 2016 mission took place in Pittsburgh
where 1,008 volunteers provided $841,959
worth of dental services to 947 patients.
As of today, MOM-n-PA has completed 22,248
procedures on 6,519 patients. The total value of
dental care donated has been $3,572,043 from
4,005 volunteers.
28
Surveys during the last four years showed that 39.3 percent
of patients at our mission currently had dental pain. This
speaks to the need for more dental care for the underserved in
Pennsylvania.
S E P / O C T 2 0 1 6 | P E N N S Y LVA N I A D E N TA L J O U R N A L
If you go to our website you can see the list of donors.
I was very proud of our volunteers and our leads this year. We
had to adjust our protocols due to lower patient numbers this
year, however our leads worked so well together that the
patients received more comprehensive care, with many
patients receiving four or five procedures this year instead of
one or two procedures. Our goal has always been to do the
most good for the most people and our experienced leads do
a great job of leading the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that come to treat the underserved. I am looking forward
to our mission next year in Erie on June 16 and 17, 2017.