Something to smile about: Free 'Care Day'

Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.self storageM.Dec. 25--Leanne Lopez doesn't smile. Hasn't in years.The 57-year-old Albuquerque woman is too self-conscious about her front teeth."When I was 25, I got beat up in a ritual-type thing by 13 guys in a biker gang and they cracked a bunch of my front teeth," she said. "I got the teeth capped, but over the years the teeth eroded and the caps fell off. I don't have dental insurance and haven't been to a dentist in 20 years."That is until Tuesday.Lopez was in the waiting room of the Comfort Dental office at 5308 Fourth NW, hoping for help, having braved temperatures in the mid-20s to get there just as the sun cleared the top of the Sandia Mountains.The Comfort Dental office, as well as all 106 Comfort Dental offices in 11 states, was providing free dental services as part of its annual Care Day held each year since 1984 on Christmas Eve. It's the company's way of offering oral health care to people who can't afford to pay for dental service or can't afford dental insurance, explained dentist Mark Clayton.The free dental services are provided on a first-come, first-served basis from 7:30 a.m. until about noon. Procedures are generally limited to cleanings, extractions and fillings, though more serious problems are handled on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the individual dentist.Clayton's Comfort Dental office is one of seven in the metro area. He and Dr. Douglas Chisholm operate the suite and supervise the staff of nine people. Last year, the dental office saw nearly 80 patients on Care Day. Nationwide, Comfort Dental offices provided free services worth $1.5 million to more than 6,000 people, Clayton said. He anticipated as many or more people seeking care this year.Care Day patients have been as young as 5 and as old as 90. "The need is immense, especially at this time of the year with the holidays and people stretching the budget to buy presents for others, and maybe they've neglected or can't afford to attend to their own needs," he said.For Lopez, a currently unemployed housecleaner, fixing her teeth is something she said she needs to regain her self-confidence. "I want to go back to school, or get a better job. I don't really smile and prefer to keep my mouth closed," which makes job interviews a bit uncomfortable, she noted.Linda Mendoza said she lost her dental insurance when her ex-husband got remarried and took her off his plan. She hasn't been seen by迷你倉a dentist for seven years. In the meantime, "I lost a tooth and developed periodontal disease," said Mendoza, 57, an unemployed student at Central New Mexico Community College.After seeing a notice in the newspaper about Care Day, Mendoza decided to take advantage of the service. "I don't want to lose any more teeth, she said. "It's really a nice thing they're doing. It fits right in with the spirit of Christmas."Prevention, that's the key for Kyle Toya, a 21-year-old student at CNM. "I don't have any problems that I know of," he said of his teeth, but then, it's been a long time since he's been to a dentist because he doesn't have insurance."I just want to see if I have any cavities or anything. This is preventative. I'm trying to avoid problems," he said.Too late for James Mathieus, also 21. Last year on Care Day, Comfort Dental replaced a filling that had been missing for three years, the result of a skateboarding accident. This year, thinking he was in good shape for a while, Mathieus passed on purchasing dental insurance through his job at a substance abuse and detox program."Then, like a month later, I broke a piece of my molar, a big piece -- like a quarter of my molar is missing, and it's been like that for about six months," he said.When he chews food and bites down on it, "it's really painful and sends a shock through my jaw."He'd been waiting for Care Day to get the tooth repaired. "I think this is a blessing," he said of the free dental service. "I just wish it was available sooner."Jennifer George is stuck in a difficult place. Diagnosed with multiple illnesses, she lives off disability checks that provide barely enough subsistence money and, of course, no dental coverage. On the other hand, she gets too much to qualify for Medicaid or to purchase some sort of independent dental insurance program.This past Sunday, "a tooth started to abscess and my face started to swell," she said. She learned about the Care Day dental service from a notice in the newspaper and knew "it would be a lifesaver."On Tuesday, George, 38, lay in a Comfort Care dental chair as Clayton prepped her to extract the offending tooth.Looking at the brighter side of the situation, she said, "it couldn't have happened at a better time."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at .abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉西貢