Smile Mobile makes its first stop in Rainy River

By Ken Johnston
Editor

First there was the Eye Van, the Breast Screening Van and now there is the Smile Mobile!
The Smile Mobile rolled into Rainy River last week and will be in the community until the end of this week. The 33 foot long vehicle is a dental office on wheels and is part of the Healthy Smiles Ontario Program. The Northwestern Health Unit is overseeing the program in the region. Sylvana Edenburn of NWHU, said that they successfully negotiated some add ons to the services it can provide.
Initially it was to provide dental services for kids under 18 with family incomes less than $20,000 per year. “We received pilot project status to offer services to individuals who receive benefits under the Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program, Children in Need of Treatment and the Federal Non-insured Health Program,” said Edenburn last week.
The Smile Mobile is parked at Rainy River’s NWHU on the corner of Hwy. 11 and Fourth St. It is a fully equipped dental office staffed with dentist Peter Cortens of Dryden. Cortens, along with an assistant can provide a full array of services such as cleanings, digital xrays, extractions and repair work such as fillings and root canals. “We can not do anything that involves lab work,” explained Cortens. He was referring to things like crowns, bridges or dentures. “If they require that we will urge them to see a private dentist.”
Cortens sold his private practise in June and said that he is really enjoying this new job. “For me personally there is less stress. I get to help people and do not have to handle the business side of a practise.”
Accessing service is fairly easy. People can contact the Rainy River health unit at 852-3268 or call toll free 1-855-40Smile (407-6453). If all goes well a person who qualifies for dental work can get in almost immediately.
Edenburn said they hope to have the Smile Mobile rotate communities on a regular basis. They were just in Fort Frances for eight weeks and response was excellent. “It ran like a regular dental office and we had good response,” she said.
At this time there is no provision of service to allow for people who do not meet the program requirements but may live in an underserviced area like Rainy River where there is no dentist. “We are aware of the needs of underserviced areas and are showing what is possible. Who knows, perhaps down the road we will be able to use the Smile Mobile to provide them,” said Edenburn.
There are four other Smile Mobiles in the province now, but none of them cover as big an area as this one. “We service from Atikokan to Rainy River and up to Pickle Lake!” said Edenburn. Next stop after Rainy River is Ignace.
The mobile requires a special 220 volt hook up. The hook ups were installed in Fort Frances and at RR NWHU. However, the Smile Mobile has an on board generator for times when the hook up is not available.
The mobile also has holding tanks for water and is equipped with state of the art sterilizing equipment to keep all instruments up to standard for use on patients.
Edenburn said the Smile Mobile will help remove barriers to treatment and prevention for many people in the region.
“We feel this will bring much-needed preventative and treatment services to people who have previously had problems accessing care due to difficult geographic circumstances of Northern Ontario,” said NWHU Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Arthur.
In a News Release about the Smile Mobile, NWHU said, “Dental decay is one of the most common chronic childhood diseases. With the implementation of the mobile dental office, eligible clients will be able to receive a range of dental treatment that will help reduce the risk of serious dental health problems in the future.”