Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Program recently received a $4,000 grant from the Illinois State Dental Society Foundation (ISDSF) to bolster its services to the community.
The ISDSF distributes community grants each year to applicants residing in Illinois, who offer services and projects that can benefit people in a community. This year, the ISDSF distributed $50,000 in grant money, and SBL was one of 12 organizations to receive funding.
“SBL’s Dental Program continues to address critical needs in our community, so this grant money will help us greatly,” SBL Healthy Communities Director Laura Bollan said. “This will specifically help us address the dental problems that adults in our community face.”
Children 18 years and younger who qualify, receive free care under SBL’s Dental Services, which provides preventive and restorative care. Adults 19 and older, however, do not qualify for the program.
In the past year, there were 631 visits to the SBL Emergency Department for dental issues, and 596 of those visits were made by adults 19 or older. Previously, SBL offered a voucher system to adults who visited the ED, but the funding for that system was no longer available.
“When these adults visit the ED, they typically receive pain medication and antibiotics that provides temporary relief, but the infection returns because there are few dental providers that accept Medicaid,” Bollan explained. “The grant will help us provide emergency vouchers to take care of the most urgent needs.”
Patients who have an urgent dental need, like an abscess or active infection, will receive a referral from an SBL provider, which will direct them to dentists in the area accepting these emergency vouchers. The vouchers are $500 each and typically take care of a problem focused exam, X-ray or extraction.
SBL Dental Services provides free oral healthcare and education to low-income children aged 0 to 18 in a rural 10-county region of East Central Illinois. The program offers comprehensive care for eligible children via mobile and fixed-site services by working with local schools and health departments.
For more information on SBL Dental Services, call 877-511-2602, or visit https://www.sarahbush.org/dental/.