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Fourth-year dental students Elizabeth Johnson works on a patient during the fourth annual Nebraska Mission of Mercy event. |
Patients began lining up in the wee hours of the morning outside of the Scotts Bluff County Events Center. UNMC dental faculty and students, together with area dentists and hygienists, treated 1,065 people during the two-day event and provided $571,515 in dental care.
The Nebraska Mission of Mercy (NMOM) is modeled after similar programs in Virginia, Texas and Kansas and is sponsored by the Nebraska Dental Association. The first event took place in 2005 in North Platte, with others following in Grand Island in 2006 and Norfolk in 2007.
“Since its inception, we’ve treated more than 5,000 patients and provided $2 million in care,” said James Jenkins, D.D.S., assistant professor, UNMC College of Dentistry. Dr. Jenkins has been a volunteer with NMOM since the beginning.
NMOM targets services to low-income individuals and families through local churches, community programs and service organizations. Patients are screened and treated based on their most urgent dental needs — extractions, fillings, oral surgery and dental hygiene, he said.
Those services are then provided free by one of hundreds of dentists, hygienists and assistants who have donated their time and talents to treat patients.
“We’ve helped out a lot of folks,” Dr. Jenkins said.