Dental News - New clinic will serve needs of developmentally disabled patients

Dental Tribune International

Tue. 28 June 2011

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RANCHO MIRAGE, CA, USA: Desert Friends of the Developmentally Disabled will open a dental clinic in mid-July that will provide free dental services to developmentally disabled children and adults. “We already have a waiting list of nearly 100 people from throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are in desperate need of dental care,” said Marianne Benson, co-founder of the Rancho Mirage-based non-profit group.

The clinic will be behind the Rancho Las Palmas Shopping Center in an office building at 42-900 Bob Hope Drive, Suite 111.

Desert Friends of the Developmentally Disabled signed a three-year lease on the 1,200-square-foot office, which is being renovated right now in preparation for a mid-July opening.

“We’ll start off with two dental chairs, but we will eventually expand to four,” Benson said.

California has 240,000 disabled children and adults, 24,000 of whom reside in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. About 1,500 of them live in the Coachella Valley.

“Adults over 21 have lost most of their medical and dental healthcare benefits as a result of state budget cuts during the past three years,” Benson said. “We’re trying to help them by providing dental care, though we hope to eventually provide other healthcare services as we recruit more volunteers.”

While disabled children still have their medical and dental benefits, it is very difficult to find dentists willing to work on them, Benson said, adding that Desert Friends of the Developmentally Disabled has initially focused on providing free dental services, since state statistics indicate that 88 percent of disabled children and adults have unmet dental needs.

State lawmakers have eliminated numerous medical and dental services for developmentally disabled adults, including all dental services, speech therapy services, podiatric services, audiology services, chiropractic services, acupuncture services, optometric and optician services, psychological services as well as incontinence creams and washes. Lawmakers have also proposed cutting additional services for developmentally disabled adults this year in an effort to reduce the state budget deficit.

“All of this is happening,” Benson said, “because this is a population that cannot speak up for themselves. So their services are among the first to be cut.”

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