By Dr. Douglas Manning, Regional Executive
Director, DentaQuest Florida
Eight members of the DentaQuest Florida team
volunteered along with many other dental providers and non-dental volunteers
from around the state and country to support the Florida Dental
Association’s Mission of Mercy (MOM) clinic in Tampa
Struggles with access to affordable oral
health care are a documented challenge in Florida ,
and events like this Mission of Mercy are one of the few options for those
unable to access care. A recent
study found that more than 139,000 Floridians
were treated in 2012 in hospital emergency departments for oral health problems
that could have been treated in a dental office or clinic, or avoided
altogether with preventive oral health care.
DentaQuest would like to thank the
Florida Dental Association and its Foundation for all their hard work in
organizing the event. The DentaQuest
team was honored to be a part of an event that provided much needed care to so
many. While we acknowledge that these Missions of Mercy free care clinics are a
poor substitute for regular, ongoing oral health care, our team is ready,
willing and able to participate in future events like this.