Delta Dental Foundation Funds Dental Mobile Unit to Serve Ottawa County Adults and Children

By fall 2020, a new dental mobile unit will be on the road providing dental care to Ottawa County residents. A $200,000 grant from the Delta Dental Foundation (DDF) to the Ottawa County Department of Public Health will fund a new mobile dental unit to replace the department’s 16-year-old vehicle which provides services through the Miles of Smiles (MOS) program.

“The MOS mobile dental service model has shown consistently over the years to be effective in filling a critical need in the community,” said Dr. Holli Seabury, DDF executive director. “We believe in the work they are doing to improve access to care, especially to vulnerable populations.”

The MOS program provides easy access to preventative and restorative dental care for low-income, Medicaid insured, and uninsured residents of Ottawa County. The current 40-foot mobile coach is outfitted with two dental chairs, digital X-ray machine, wheelchair lift, laboratory and a waiting area. The new mobile unit is needed to continue to provide dental services, especially as the unit ages and encounters more mechanical and structural issues.

”I am so thankful for the financial support from DDF that we have received over the years,” said Debra Bassett, Ottawa County Department of Public Health oral health team supervisor. “I am absolutely elated about this grant that will help us to purchase the new Miles of Smiles mobile unit, so we can continue to provide dental services for the Ottawa County residents!”

In March 2016, MOS implemented collaboration with Holland Free Health Clinic to provide onsite dental services. The mobile unit now visits the clinic up to three days a month to provide care to adult residents in addition to continuing to provide dental services to children at Ottawa County schools. An estimated 916 patients will be served in the first year of the coach.

To date, the DDF has invested a total of $250,000 in Ottawa County’s Miles of Smiles program. To determine eligibility for the MOS program, call (800) 467-5905) or visit www.miOttawa.org/dental.

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Click to take a video tour of the current mobile unit.