Healthcare for low-income families

For this report, you’ll hear from Joy Hall, a registered dental hygienist with CCI Health & Wellness Services. Few dental professionals in our area serve children under age 5, but with a Master’s in Public Health concentrating in child and maternal health, Joy is passionate about providing dental care to young children and pregnant women at CCI H&WS. Joy is so dedicated to her work that she wrote a mission statement for her career: “to increase access to healthcare, reduce dental health disparities, and decrease early childhood caries among minorities.” Dedicated providers like her make all the difference.

How long have you been with us? What do you enjoy most?

I’ve been a part of the CCI family for three years. After grad school, I decided that I wanted to work for a company that made a real impact in the community. What I like most about being here is that I am able to do what I love and make a tangible impact on those I serve. That’s what makes my job satisfying.

You started and ran our Mobile Dental program, which served two thousand kids over two years. How did you see it making an impact? 

The mobile program concluded at the beginning of the year, but while in operation, it made a huge impact on those served. A large number of children who participated in the program had never been seen by a dental professional. Now, many of those children are connected to a dental home. In addition, early intervention and/or treatment have been initiated for those with dental disease. Through our outreach efforts, we’ve been able identify a great need for dental services in Takoma Park and plan to integrate a fully functioning dental clinic at our Takoma Park site in the fall.

Some might say that dental care seems to be less of a priority than other aspects of healthcare. Why do you think dental care for kids is so important?

It always disturbs me when I talk to parents that say “Oh well, they’re just baby teeth,” especially after the devastating events surrounding Deamonte Driver in 2007. Deamonte died due to the spread of an oral infection to his brain. Had he received appropriate and timely care—a simple dental extraction—he would still be with us today. This case is rare, but it proves the point that oral disease prevention and treatment are very important. Primary teeth play an important role in speech development, nutrition, and a child’s overall wellbeing. Research shows that children who experience early childhood caries miss more days of school and have trouble concentrating while in school.  Because of this, I work hard to make sure our parents understand how important it is to treat disease as early as possible.

What do you think is the biggest way your perspective of dentistry has changed since working at our health centers?

Working at CCI has opened my eyes to the many barriers that prevent patients from receiving dental care. This became very evident for me when I treated one of our refugee families at Franklin Park. A Vietnamese mother came to the dental clinic with her two children, both under the age of five. She didn’t speak English, didn’t have transportation, and only knew how to travel to and from the clinic on the bus. Both of her children presented with severe dental decay which was outside of the scope of our practice. We decided to refer her to a local pedodontist [pediatric dentist] who could complete all of her children’s care in the hospital during one visit. After spending over an hour on the phone with the pedodontist office and the translator, talking with her IRC [resettlement agency] case worker, working with a community health worker to find transportation services, and making sure she would receive translation services at the new office, we were successful in getting her children the necessary care. 

Time for real talk: do you floss every day?

[Laughs] I floss most days. I’m a new mom to a beautiful 4 month old baby girl, so there are days I forget to floss. But I try my best to keep up with it daily as much as possible.  

You make it possible for passionate providers like Joy to care for patients who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford care. Thank you!

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