GILROY — Sitting in his mother’s lap, 2-year-old Jesus Ojeda
looked into the eyes of Dental Hygienist Jessica Ray with his lips
sealed, a worried look on his face.
”
It’s OK. It’s OK, see,
”
Ray said as she pulled out a stuffed animal alligator and began
to open and close its mouth.
”
Open. Can you do this?
”
GILROY — Sitting in his mother’s lap, 2-year-old Jesus Ojeda looked into the eyes of Dental Hygienist Jessica Ray with his lips sealed, a worried look on his face.
“It’s OK. It’s OK, see,” Ray said as she pulled out a stuffed animal alligator and began to open and close its mouth. “Open. Can you do this?”
Ojeda, who understands little or no English, took interest in the alligator, and, with a little more urging from Ray and his mother, opened his mouth to reveal his top and bottom rows of teeth.
“That’s good,” Ray said to Ojeda before calling down to one of the three volunteer dentists, “We got one!”
Ojeda was one of many Gilroy children who received their first-ever checkup with a dentist last week during Dentists with a Heart, a program run by The Health Trust and Santa Clara County Dental Association to give poor and uninsured families the opportunity for care.
Getting some of their patients to simply open their mouths was no easy task at times for the staff in the Health Trust Mobile Dental Clinic, parked outside South Valley Junior High School last Friday, which saw more than 30 kids.
“Just getting inside, that’s the hardest part,” Ray said. “If they have a lot of pain, they don’t want anyone to open their mouth.”
Ray said the key to giving the people care was to make them feel safe.
“We had two that were heart-breakers,” she said. “They were very scared, but we were able to get them to feel more comfortable. One was 8, the other was 7 with tooth decay. That’s the kind of stuff we’re seeing today.”
Ojeda was one of the lucky ones. He had no decay in his teeth, only a warning to his mother to help brush his back molars a little better.
Humorously, when it came time for Ojeda to get out of the dentist chair, they couldn’t get him to close his mouth. They had to use the alligator again.
Ojeda walked away with a toothbrush and toothpaste – and with the first of what hopefully will be many good dentist checkups.
This was the second year for Dentists with a Heart. According to David H. Lees, director of The Health Trust children’s dental initiative, 87 Santa Clara dentists saw more than 500 children who otherwise would not have access to dental care. The children received treatment including check-ups, filling cavities and applying sealants. More than $150,000 in dental care was delivered at no cost to low-income and uninsured families during the inaugural event last year.
The volunteers at the clinic had many heartwarming stories to tell about patients that visited the clinic this year. One of those stories was about a teenager from San Martin who was taken to San Jose to have all four of his wisdom teeth removed after he came in for his first visit to the dentist.
“That’s one of my favorite stories,” said Teresa Dow, dental clinic coordinator for The Health Trust. “That’s a gift. If someone had paid for my wisdom teeth to be removed, my parents would still be thanking them to this day.”
Some of the stories told by volunteers show the exact reason why there is so much need for these families.
“I had a family here of about seven that was sharing one toothbrush,” Dow said. “Dental decay can be passed down to one another, but they didn’t know that.”
Dentist Rich Durando, who came down from Menlo Park to work in the mobile clinic, said he had just seen the perfect candidate for treatment – an 11-year-old boy who had two cavities.
“You can go in and do two restorations, and he’s fortunate,” Durando said. “He’s the ideal candidate. The important thing is not to be afraid. This is perfect for this environment. You can get them in here, and they won’t have an aversion (to dentists).”
Lees said that after seeing the need in Gilroy last year, The Health Trust made sure to have its one state-of-the-art mobile dental clinic in Gilroy, placing it at South Valley Junior High for the second year in a row.
“This is such a pocket of need,” Lees said. “They wanted to get right down here at ground zero.”
The mobile clinic itself is an amazing site. Simply a bright-green trailer from the outside, inside it holds three dentists chairs and all the tools to do a check-up and to treat cavities. Each dentist chair has a computer to input information and two of the three chairs have the capabilities to do digital X-rays.
“This is state-of-the-art,” Dow said. “This is the most-advanced, most up-to-date place. It’s environmentally sound, and it’s a real ice-breaker with the kids.”
Opened in August of 2001, the Health Trust Mobile Dental Clinic has been making its rounds in South Valley but has spent a lot of time in Gilroy. Last year, the unit was kept at South Valley Junior High from April to November. It arrived in Gilroy this year on Jan. 14.
“How long we stay here depends on the need here,” Dow said. “We plan to be here through the spring.”
Superintendent Edwin Diaz made sure electricity was hooked up to the mobile unit from the middle school and has offered to do whatever it takes to make the unit feel at home, Dow said.
Dentist Michael Tay runs his office through the mobile unit from 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with Assistant Rosa Avila.
“I think the care we provide here would go to bat against any private practice,” Dow said. “We treat every patient here as if it was our own child.”
Lees said that giving care to the families last Friday was just the beginning. Many of the children who were given check-ups were scheduled for followup appointments.
“It’s not a one-day thing,” he said. “We’re going to find a dental home for these kids so they will get all the treatment they need.”
Dow said she took pride in being able to help get families off to a good start and on their way to better health.
“It’s a great community, and people have been so grateful,” she said. “It’s not just one day, It’s a lifetime commitment. We want to make a who lifetime change.”
The Health Trust is a public benefit corporation committed to improving the health and wellness of at-risk, underserved Santa Clara County residents. Focusing on children, frail elderly, and vulnerable adults, The Health Trust operates its own broad range of programs and services and issues grants to other health-related agencies.
The annual value to the community that The Health Trust provides is more than $12 million. This is accomplished through grants to others, as well as programs and initiatives that The Health Trust operates. The Health Trust relies on fundraising to support its health programs and strategic initiatives.
For more information visit www.healthtrust.org. For more information about dental services through The Health Trust, call 283-6200.
