Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc.

Back in April 2021, I saw an 11-year-old child who had never really touched a toothbrush to her teeth. She had an extreme amount of anxiety and some sensory issues and was crying due to embarrassment about the condition of her mouth. My dental assistant and I knew it would be a very delicate situation, as we had to work with the child to get all the plaque layers and very hard calculus (tartar) off of her teeth to help her gums heal and become healthier. The patient did cry through the entire procedure but was cooperative. She kept apologizing to me “about her bad teeth and gums.” I just kept reassuring her that she was doing a great job and that we would help fix the problem with her gums. My dental assistant held the child’s hand through the entire cleaning. Once we finished, I educated the patient’s mom and the child herself on how to get her gums to heal and keep her teeth clean at home. Both mom and patient were very happy to see clean teeth for the first time in years. The patient now visits our office every four months and maintains a healthy smile at home.

-Karen Gannon, Dental Hygienist

Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc.

An 81-year-old patient came in for a cleaning after her comprehensive oral exam. The patient had not been to a dentist in more than 42 years. After her son was born, her husband had an accident at work that left him paralyzed from the neck down. She was his caregiver for 35 years and raised their children. Now it was time to take care of herself. Her gums were in good shape considering how long it had been since she had a dentist. A deep cleaning was performed on her entire mouth. When the cleaning was finished, the patient almost cried and almost made me cry because she was so happy to feel her individual teeth for the first time in years. She was thrilled that we were able to help her start to take care of her own teeth again.

-Karen Gannon, Dental Hygienist

The Rescue Mission of Roanoke, Inc.

Duane knew where to go for help but he wasn’t yet ready to ask for assistance. At 51, he had a cyst removed from his lower mandible and got fitted for partial dentures at the G. Wayne Fralin Free Clinic, a ministry of the Roanoke Rescue Mission. Now, ten years later, Duane had only four teeth remaining on the bottom and three of those were feeling sore.

Towards the end of 2020, Duane started a new chapter pursuing sobriety with a year-long, residential substance abuse recovery program at the Mission. That was his first step in asking for help. Within months, the Fralin Free Clinic was able to assess what was going on with those three sore teeth and determined it was time to pull everything from Duane’s bottom jaw. Volunteers in residency with Carilion Clinic stepped in to assist. It was a relief to Duane to be free of pain physically and working on healing emotional traumas, as well.

Staff at the clinic still needed to get Duane checked out for other underlying health issues. Henritze Dental Group offered a check-up and cleaning to get him prepped and Commonwealth Dental Clinic assisted with a new, full set of dentures.

As of December 2021, Duane is still a resident with the Mission’s recovery program and just a few months shy of graduating. He mentors other newcomers entering sobriety, offering counsel and guidance along with his new smile. His dental work coordinated by free clinic staff will help with so much more than first impressions; his dentures will allow for better nutritional intake and improve long-term health outcomes as part of his wholistic transformation into sober living.