UNMC helps expand dental clinics in rural Nebraska

Eric Avitia looks over a patient’s dental X-ray at Panhandle Community Services in Gering, Neb.

The UNMC College of Dentistry has partnered with Panhandle Community Services in Gering and the Good Neighbor Community Health Clinic in Columbus, Neb., to expand dental services in these communities.

The partnership allows the College of Dentistry to use the clinics in Gering and Columbus as rural rotation sites for its dental and dental hygiene students. At the same time the clinics benefit from the addition of two permanent dental faculty members on staff at the Gering clinic and one at the Columbus clinic.

“It’s a very good relationship that benefits the entire community,” said Rebecca Rayman, executive director of the East Central District Health Department and of the Good Neighbor Community Health Clinic in Columbus.

“The construction of our dental clinic was completed earlier this year but we had not opened for services because we were having trouble recruiting a dentist,” Rayman said. “It just so happened that when we called the College of Dentistry for help Dr. Susan Alexander, D.D.S., was also inquiring with her alma mater about relocating to Nebraska.”

The clinic in Gering also was experiencing difficulty in recruiting and retaining full time dentists and had limited their services to pediatric patients and emergency services for adults.

“We are seeing 40 percent more patients now, including adults, and have expanded our days of operation from four days a week to five,” said Jeff Tracy, Panhandle Community Services Health Center director. The clinic also has expanded emergency services from just four hours one day a week to two hours each day of the week and implemented a Thursday evening clinic for migrant workers.

The clinic expansions became official July 1, said Veronica McManamon, community health center rotation coordinator and rural practice opportunities coordinator for the UNMC College of Dentistry.

Justin Villafane looks over a patient’s chart at a dental rotation at Panhandle Community Services in Gering, Neb.

Two senior dental students recently completed a three-week rotation at the Gering clinic and one dental student recently completed a rotation at the Columbus clinic, McManamon said.

“It’s a great experience for our students,” McManamon said. “One of the things we want our students to be able to do while they are on rotation in these communities is to work with the Area Health Education Centers and do some community service projects.”

“We hope that these experiences will encourage more students to practice in rural Nebraska, where there is such a great need for dentists, after they graduate,” she said.

With the addition of the Gering and Columbus clinics, there are now more than 30 rural rotation sites throughout the state, McManamon said.