Dental group in Chicago's West Loop aims to make oral care more accessible
CHICAGO (CBS) — A dental group in the West Loop is making oral care more accessible to Chicagoans.
According to the National Institute of Health and the CDC, a community's oral health is directly tied to its income levels. Some dentists don't take Medicaid, so older Chicagoans are often left to pay for dental care out of pocket or avoid it completely.
That's why The Aspen Group started providing free care to those who need it most.
Every couple of weeks, the TAG Oral Care Center for Excellence fills up nearly every room with dentists from around the country and patients from across the city — most of whom haven't seen a dentist in years.
"These are people that that don't have the funds or the means to go to a regular private dental office, and they're in bad dental health and overall health," said Dr. Kevin Elliott.
Dr. Elliott typically works at an Aspen Dental practice in Bosie, Idaho.
"I have patients lined up when I get back to Boise. It's very similar where, you know, it's a lot of rural environments. So people will drive in, you know, from hours away to come see us," he said.
To better serve his own under-resourced communities, Dr. Eliott is in Chicago to learn from dentists like Dr. Sundeep Rawal, who helped start and run the Center for Oral Excellence's multi-million dollar facilities.
"Hygiene, fillings, extractions, implants, you name it," Dr. Elliott said.
"What our doctors are learning here are how to how to treat patients in the best ways possible with things like dental implant therapy and innovations like technology through scanning and 3D printing," Dr. Rawal said.
The Aspen Group flies in dentists from across their global network of over a thousand offices to provide free care and receive professional development.
"This facility really focuses on two main priorities giving back to those who have been told for their entire lives that, no, you can't get access to dental care. And at the same time, give the doctors who we support the opportunity to grow and develop here," Dr. Rawal said.
The constant flow of dentists means thousands of Chicagoans receive care from the center each year.
"We take people through a journey to get them to where they are truly healthy again," Dr. Rawal said.
"We're we're restoring their mouth. Whether it's one tooth or multiple teeth, we're going to be able to get that tooth replaced, to get your chewing function back, to get your smile back, to get your confidence back," Dr. Elliott said.