East Whatcom County – Cathy Howard’s final experience at the dentist left her with the tips of exposed teeth roots in her mouth, which continues to be infected, she said. Paradise residents decided to try again in early March when they saw a mobile dental van drive moving behind her at the East What.com Regional Resource Center on Thursday.
“It’s easier to come here than the town’s dental clinic,” she said.
When Howard visited in early March, she spoke to Dr. Jessica Dobeck, the founder of the dentist and clinic. Howard shared that she and her husband were homeless for ten years before they found a place several years ago.
“A lot of people think you’re dirty when you lose a lot of those teeth,” she told Dubek.
Howard told the Cascadia Daily News that she and her husband remained behind Walmart in Bellingham. “Never again,” she said with hard work.
Some people believe that tooth loss is due to drugs, but “it’s not always the case. It’s not mine. It was homeless. You can’t brush your teeth frequently or at all.”
Treating patients like Howard is the driving mission behind the Dentall Mobile Dental Clinic, which seeks to provide dental services to people who don’t have easy access to care. Dentor began visiting the Maple Falls Resource Center earlier this month. Before cancelling the service last fall, it replaced Medical Teams International Mobile Clinics, which visited the centre monthly between 2023 and 2024.
Dentall accepts Medicaid and Medicare, among other insurance companies. If the patient is uninsured, the clinic will provide free care. We plan to visit East Whatcom Centre on May 17th, May 17th and May 17th.
Hygienist Cassidy Bachmann said many of Dentor’s treatments had never been to a dentist in more than a decade. Even if a patient has Medicaid, many offices do not accept it.
After spending 10 years as the director of dental clinic at Lummi Tribal Health Center, Dubek founded Dentall several years ago. It began as a dental consulting business, but after discussions about opening a clinic on Orcas Island, the company quickly evolved.
Since then, Dentall has been offering portable dental services, with the team bringing equipment into the building and setting up shops. In January this year, the company became a “mobile” clinic. This means that providers can also serve bright blue Dentol vans.
“We think there are so many barriers when it comes to the population and we already see what they are facing,” Dubek said.
The state has 38 of the 39 counties designated federally. Areas of shortages for full or partial dental health professionalsaccording to a 2023 report. In 2021, the report continues, with only 23% of Washington residents eligible for Medicaid receiving dental care.
Dentall serves patients at Maple Falls Center, Recovery Cafe Skagit, Whatcom County Prison, the Lopez and Orcas Islands. Dubek hopes to expand to other Whatcom and Skagit locations in the coming months.
The clinic is not yet financially maintained by insurance payments, so we charge daily fees to partner organizations, such as the Opportunity Council, which operates East Whatcom centres.
Yarrow Greer, Community Services Manager at Opportunity Council, wrote in an email that funding for Dental Services is “safe until May only, but we hope that the program will continue through additional grants and private donations.”
The clinic offers medical interpreting services in Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian.
Interpretation is one way to help tackle what Dubek described as a long list of questions facing people trying to navigate the health care system. Can I read and write? Do you know how to request a reservation? Do you know how insurance works? Do you know how to sign up for insurance? Do you have the money for gas or bus tickets to get to the clinic? Is someone looking at your child?
At the East Whatcom Centre, Dentor teams make reservations at the building, behind the privacy screen, and at the van. The loud movement of the generator fills the small space of a van, primarily hanging over a dental chair.
Lora Johnson spoke about the clinic through her son’s Head Start program, which was also held at the centre. She lives “around the corner,” she said. She came because she wanted to “have a lovely smile again.”
Johnson said it has been four or five years since the last appointment of the dentist because care was affordable.
With Dentol, she extracted her teeth. “A really long time” has been bothering her. Johnson’s teeth were affected by the food she ate, and gave her a headache. She was in pain “always.” Sleep can be difficult.
She has had bad experiences with dentists in the past. “Pain is always involved,” she said.
Mobile clinics were different, she said. The staff were friendly and knowledgeable.
Some people are afraid to visit dentists. Not a patient with Dentor, hygienist Bachmann said: “They are very grateful.”
As for Howard, the clinic established her with an appointment later that month.
Sofia Gates covers rural whatcom and Skagit counties. She is a Murrow Fellow in Washington State, whose job is taken over by taxpayers and is available outside the CDN paywall. Contact her at sophiagates@cascadiadaily.com. 360-922-3090 ext. 131.
