Update on Dental Projects

The Centennial Dental Outreach Program started in 2005 under Steve Worthen’s presidency. In order to reach students in need of dental care in the outlying areas of the county, our Rotary Club bought a 5x8 trailer and five portable dental units capable of polishing, suctioning, squirting water and air and even with a high speed drill to do fillings. We had a clinic every month and we depended on volunteer dental hygiene students and a dentist to supervise. We would see approximately 25 to 30 students at each site. We worked with the school nurses and kids that required fillings after their teeth were cleaned, polished and taught how to brush and floss properly were referred to local dentists.

Then we became aware of a need for restorative work and not just preventive cleanings. The Rotary Club then started the Sunrise Dental Clinic for kids from 3-18 years of age--for free. We held these clinics every other month relying on volunteer dentists and dental hygienists. Rotarians recruited their dentists to volunteer. The Sunrise Rotarians also helped with registration and clinic flow and interacting with the kids in the waiting room. Interact students from Elsie Allen and Rotaract students from SRJC also helped in the waiting room.

For both of the programs, Sunrise Rotary paid for all the supplies, including toothbrushes and dental floss which were given to the students. We were able to get the portable units at a discount because a Rotary Club in Oregon was able to convince a local manufacturer to sell dental units at a discount to Rotary Clubs who had dental projects.

We also take these portable units to Ensenada, Baja California, where dental hygiene students clean kids teeth in 2 orphanages, a school of indigenous kids, and a migrant work camp. About 160 kids and adults are seen every summer.

In addition these units are taken to Nicaragua where we have an eye glass and dental project every other year.

We have raised such awareness in the community that restorative dental work can be done at local clinics on a sliding scale for the kids, so we no longer have the Sunrise Dental Clinic at SRJC.

For our dental outreach programs in the schools, we no longer rely on volunteer dental hygiene students. It has now been institutionalized so that all students must do these rotations, so we have a clinic every month for every semester. An instructor is with these groups of 6 students at every clinic. We have also started to bus and walk students over to the SRJC clinic from nearby schools so that 18 dental hygiene students can work on the students, instead of 6.

The Santa Rosa Sunrise Centennial Dental Outreach Programs have benefited and will continue to benefit those in need of dental care.