By Craig Murphy
Springfield Times Editor
Yes, this motor home does have a nice flat screen TV.
Only thing is, the TV is attached to the ceiling and is best view when all the way leaned back in the dentist's chair.
The motor home in question is known as the Tooth Taxi, and it was camped out at Riverbend Elementary in the Thurston part of town last week.
The Tooth Taxi was started last summer, designed to travel throughout Oregon and provide free dental service to uninsured and underinsured children.
"We like to have at least 100 kids at a site," said program manager Mary Daly last Thursday at Riverbend, the last day the mobile facility was in Springfield. "By the time we leave, we will have treated 80 kids."
Daly noted 109 children were screened, getting rated based on the level of tooth decay. Those most in need of attention were scheduled for a time in the Tooth Taxi.
Dr. Weston Heringer is the pediatric dentist who does most of the cleanings, assisted each week by local dentists in the area where the Tooth Taxi is at that week. While in Springfield, Heringer was assisted by doctors Megan Sapp, Steven Smith and Jay Lamb.
"As a pediatric dentist, I enjoy treating kids," said Heringer, who left a private practice he ran for 31 years to help start the Tooth Taxi last year. "It's a new adventure every week. I've been to places I haven't been before, and I'm a 64-year-old native Oregonian."
Heringer noted there is a common theme with many of the children he sees on the Tooth Taxi, which has the ceiling-mounted TVs so patients can relax and watch movies while being worked on.
"Most of the kids we see don't go to a dentist," Heringer said. "They don't have the money. We call local dentists, and ask them to do the service for free. There has been a good response."
A calendar in the motor home shows a schedule booked solid into the summer months.
"This is our first time in Springfield," Daly said. "We've been all over Oregon, with a lot of visits in the Willamette Valley. Every week we're on the road. We do boys and girls clubs in the summer, but we still have a focus on school kids."
Daly works with school districts around the state, using data to figure out where the most need is.
"We'll work with a school, going by the percentage of students on free and reduced lunches," Daly said. "We focus on schools with 70 percent or over. We get to the neediest schools first. We do kindergarten through 12th grade, with a focus primarily on elementary schools."
The services aren't limited to elementary aged students.
"If a middle school or high school in the town we're visiting has identified a kid, we will see them."
As an example, 20 students at Gateways High School were screened last week.
Among those was Gateways senior Jessica Nettles, 18, who had work done last Thursday.
"I thought it was awesome," Nettles said of her experience aboard the Tooth Taxi. "For me, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be done. It was great."
Nettles, who noted she was "pretty calm" during the visit, had one part she liked the most.
"Getting it done was the best part," she said with a smile.
Daly is glad to hear of students enjoying the experience with the Tooth Taxi.
"One of our main goals is to give kids a positive dental experience," Daly said. "They can watch movies while work is being done. We are able to treat a lot of kids who are not treated at a dentist's office."
Daly is already working on the fall 2009 schedule, and noted word has been getting out quickly.
"If someone called now, the earliest we would be able to visit is the spring of 2010," she said.
By that time, thousands of students around the state will have been on the Tooth Taxi.
"We say that every week is an adventure," Daly said. "And every week that proves true."
