Program brightens oral health for mentally ill patients
A Pictou County volunteer group is putting smiles on the faces of people suffering from poor dental health.
The group started a program last April that provides free dental work for eligible people with mental illness.
“We were wondering about individuals who have a mental illness and don’t have money, how do they get … to the dentist?” said Cecilia McRae, cofacilitator of the Pictou County Mental Illness Family Support Association. “We decided to do a preventative program where we would bring people in … for cleaning, X-rays, and then we would follow them for about 10 years.”
At least, that was the idea at the beginning. The project quickly changed direction when the volunteers realized the extent of the dental problems that registrants were facing.
“The first four who went to the dentist, one needed pretty well all their teeth out, the others needed most of the teeth out,” McRae said in a recent interview. “The list went on and on. Some of them were in pain from infection and disease in there so you couldn’t just say OK we’re going to clean your teeth and let you go. We had to do something about it.”
This kind of extensive dental work can cost up to $10,000, so the group has looked to the community for support. They have received donations from local municipalities and health boards, as well as the Aberdeen Health Foundation, the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, and the Kinsmen/Kinettes of New Glasgow.
In order to be eligible, you must be a resident of Pictou County in financial need and have a documented mental illness. About 25 people have enrolled so far.
Eight dentists have been recruited to provide their services for the program, with many providing large discounts and at least one taking a patient at a time on a pro bono basis.
“We choose them according to the person (getting the work done) because when you’re dealing with somebody with a mental illness, you can’t say, ‘This is where you’re going’ because they have such high anxiety and fear and so on, sometimes of dentists. If they’re comfortable with someone, we’d never take them out of their comfort zone.”
Clients weren’t available for interviews for privacy reasons but the response has been gratifying, McRae said.
One woman told the association at a recent meeting that the dental work has changed her life.
“She said, ‘I would never talk to people, I would never smile, I always kept my head down.’ It just affected her whole life because she couldn’t get out there,” McRae said.
“Now she’s got a big smile on, she’s got a person in her life. They couldn’t believe when she went in for her appointment with mental health how much she has changed, how happy she is.”
These kinds of programs are necessary because, even if a person is on social assistance, the emergency dental programs offered by the Department of Community Services come with a 20 per cent co-pay.
“It is wonderful that community services does allow emergency treatment (but) if you need $5,000 or $6,000 worth of dental treatment, you would never have the money to pay co-pay,” McRae said.
For more information on the program, call McRae at 902926-2211.