Program offers free dental care for veterans
Free comprehensive dental care should give veterans a reason to smile.
Neighborhood Services Organization has partnered with Dentists for the Disabled and Elderly in Need of Treatment Inc., or D-DENT, to provide free care to Oklahoma City’s low-income and uninsured veterans.
The effort is important, Stacey Ninness said, because insurance only covers dental care for veterans who have been ruled 100 percent disabled.
“They need to apply through D-DENT,” said Ninness, president and chief executive officer of Neighborhood Services. “They will refer patients to us, and we’ll do the screening.”
Screenings will include oral examinations and care assessments. Treatment will be provided by volunteer dental professionals across the state.
D-DENT has worked with volunteer dentists for 26 years to make sure needy, developmentally disabled and elderly patients have access to quality dentistry.
To apply for the program, call 424-8092 or go online to www.d-dent ok.org.
Those who do not qualify for free care still may benefit from Neighborhood Services’ other dental services.
The organization’s lowcost dental clinic, at 8101 S Walker Ave., offers emer- gency appointments, digital X-rays and paperless charts. Last year alone, its dental staff performed 5,990 procedures.
Anyone is eligible to use the clinic; every procedure has a low fixed cost that stays the same regardless of whether patients have insurance. Patients know going in how much treatment will cost. (Prices and services can be found online at www.nsookc.org.)
“We do a whole range of services,” Ninness said. “We do dentures and fillings and extractions. It’s comprehensive care.”