When 8-year-old Zulanihs Huertas walked into Straight Smiles, she said she wasn’t scared and she thought the clinic “was pretty cool.”After her dental scan, she picked out a toy folding fan for herself and one for her sister.
Zulanihs was among the children and their parents who attended the opening this week of Straight Smiles, an orthodontics clinic at 388 Park Ave. that serves those on the MassHealth health care plan. The clinic specializes in care of children’s teeth and is an offshoot of Small Smiles, a dental clinic for children in the Worcester area.
Free dental screenings were provided during the Straight Smiles grand opening.
“We focus our care on children who are uninsured and come from low-income families. We accept patients who do not have insurance as well as those who are on MassHealth,” said Dr. Angeline Y. Chan, lead orthodontist at Straight Smiles.
Lower-income and uninsured children often don’t get access to the care they need, said Dr. Chan. But the number of dentists and orthodontists in the Massachusetts Dental Society who accept patients who are uninsured or on MassHealth has risen in recent years. As of May, the MDS had 1,305 dentists accepting patients with MassHealth. Last year, the MDS had 1,254 members participating in MassHealth.
Within the Worcester district, 141 members, or 42 percent, accept patients with MassHealth, according to Scott G. Davis, chief communications officer of the Massachusetts Dental Society. “We’ve been able to nearly double the number of MassHealth dental providers statewide over the past few years as a result of the MDS’ active recruitment efforts,” said Mr. Davis.
MassHealth, which provides health insurance to more than 1 million people in Massachusetts, is a necessity, according to state Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester. Many low-income or uninsured children rely on the program for oral care, she said.
“If we don’t provide oral health for a child at an early age, all kinds of problems can begin. The mouth is the window to the rest of the body,” Ms. Chandler said.
According to Dr. Chan, Zulanihs had a loose tooth and small signs of a posterior cross bite. Although she was not ready for braces, interceptive treatment would widen the upper arch of her palette, said Dr. Chan.
“If this wasn’t found or not acted upon, it could result in trauma as well as recession of her lower anterior teeth,” she said.
Some procedures performed at Straight Smiles include being fitted for braces as well as treating impacted teeth. Dr. Chan said the clinic would not be able to treat cases of a cleft lip or cleft palate because of their complicated nature.
Dr. Kevin M. Reilly, senior vice president of operations at Straight Smiles, said Straight Smiles was created because of space problems at Small Smiles, which was serving about 80 children a day. Straight Smiles handles the orthodontic-based work that was once done at Small Smiles.
