Dental Clinic in Ames Busy as Number of Uninsured Patients Increases

Katharine Ferrell, 28, of Huxley lay back in the chair and stretched her mouth open to expose a gleaming set of perfectly aligned teeth with one giant molar protruding through her gums at the back of her mouth.

Ferrell, an unemployed mother of one child and a Medicaid recipient, said she had a toothache for the past two weeks. The tooth, a second molar, seemed about four times the size of a regular tooth.

“Now I feel the throbbing in my eyeball,” Ferrell said.

Minutes later dentist Brad Melhus and an assistant, Carolina Arce, extracted the decaying tooth and sent Ferrell out the low-income dental clinic's door.

Most patients haven't properly cared for their teeth, leading to decay and avoid a trip to the dentist until pulling it is the only thing that can be done.

“We see it every day,” said Paula Feltner, a hygienist for the nonprofit clinic.

Mid-Iowa Community Action, a non-profit established in 1965 to serve children and families affected by poverty, opened the dental clinic about four years ago.

“We see three times the amount of patients since we started here,” Feltner said. “We have just a little more staff. We all just work a little harder to keep the doors open.”

The clinic has seen more than 300 patients a month since May. Janelle Durlin, MICA's Story County health resources director, said anecdotally they seem to have had more and more patients coming to the clinic due to unemployment, but the clinic doesn't track patients by income. In January 2011, the clinic saw 209 patients and saw 314 in September.

The increase might be in part because of Durlin's outreach in the community.

“The more people we serve, the stronger community we have,” Durlin said.

Mid-Iowa Community Action clinic accepts Medicaid and Hawk-I patients for a $3 copay. Uninsured patients with an income twice the level of poverty receive services based on a sliding fee scale. They offer routine preventative care, fillings, extractions and sealants.

Ferrell said she recently quit her job so she could stay at home to care for her child. She last came to the clinic in 2009 for a similar procedure.

If it weren't for the clinic, Ferrell may have suffered longer. Most dentists refuse Medicaid patients because of the low reimbursement rates, that typically reimburse dentists at about 70 percent of the true cost for procedures.

Mary Collinsworth, 68, Boone, is among those making use of the clinic more frequently. She brings all five of her grandchildren to the clinic for routine preventative care because her daughter lost her insurance after a divorce. She has a full-time job, but she can't afford insurance. Collinsworth has used the clinic as well, paying about $68 for care that would have cost $300.

The staff is all paid so MICA raises money and competes for grants to fill the gap, Durlin said.

The funds comes from the generosity of ASSET, community groups, faith-based institutions, and compassionate individuals and families, she said. 

"Without the financial support of so many wonderful partners, we would never be able to sustain our clinic," Durlin said.

The clinic is located at 226 SE 16th St. It's open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Call 515-598-5298 for more information.