{"id":122348,"date":"2025-05-30T09:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=122348"},"modified":"2025-06-17T13:16:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:16:35","slug":"clinic-gives-veterans-reason-to-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/05\/30\/clinic-gives-veterans-reason-to-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinic gives veterans reason to smile"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p>Ronald Catt has been coming to the UNMC College of Dentistry\u2019s student clinic for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClose to 40 years,\u201d the 78-year-old said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that time, he\u2019s gotten cleanings, fillings and other routine dental work done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in 2024, he was faced with the need for a procedure \u2014 a partial denture that would require extractions and other work \u2014 that, even with the student clinic\u2019s reduced fees, was a financial impossibility for the Navy veteran who served in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey told me it would be $3,600 to repair,\u201d he said. \u201cI said, \u2018Nope, can\u2019t do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About a week later, the clinic called back. Catt could now have the procedure \u2014 at no cost \u2014 as part of the UNMC College of Dentistry\u2019s new VETSmile Dental Clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In collaboration with Veterans Affairs\u2019 VETSmile program, the UNMC College of Dentistry offers affordable or complimentary dental services to veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system but are not eligible for dental benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-122350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/VETSmile1052225.jpg 2025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nick Stolze, a fourth-year dental student, calls the VETSmile Clinic a \u201cwin\u201d for all involved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Open since July 2024, the donor-funded UNMC VETSmile Dental Clinic already has served more than 100 veterans. Patients receive care from UNMC dental students and faculty volunteers and establish a dental home for ongoing care and preventive services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only 15% of veterans enrolled in health care through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are eligible for dental benefits. The statistic hits home for UNMC College of Dentistry Dean Gerard \u201cGerry\u201d Kugel, DMD, whose father died of injuries related to his military service when Dr. Kugel was only 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDental schools provided my dental care throughout my childhood \u2014 and I had VA benefits,\u201d he said. \u201cI went to dental schools because I didn\u2019t get dental benefits. People in Nebraska may not realize veterans don\u2019t get dental care \u2014 only if they\u2019re fully disabled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Dr. Kugel came to Nebraska in 2023 from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, he found himself in what he describes as a \u201cveteran heavy\u201d state where he saw a big need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are approximately 115,000 veterans in Nebraska not getting dental care, not being eligible,\u201d Dr. Kugel said. \u201cOf those vets, according to the Veterans Administration, about 60% say it\u2019s due to the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He pointed to a VA survey that said dental care is the biggest health concern for Nebraska vets, ahead of both mental health care and medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe other staggering statistic? Close to 45% of vets in Nebraska experience dental pain in any given year. If they can\u2019t get to a dentist or afford a dentist, we want to be their home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Click Play below to watch this Campus Spotlight video on the VETSmile Clinic at the UNMC College of Dentistry, featuring UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, and Dean Gerry Kugel, DMD, PhD.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"UNMC Campus Spotlight: VETSmile \u2013 Where Students Serve Those Who Served\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DaxXh23MoHA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Greg Bennett, DMD, chair of the UNMC Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry, said college faculty and students were aware of the need within the state, in part because of the annual Veterans Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic, an intensive, two-day event to provide dental services to as many veterans as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany of us volunteer for Mission of Mercy every year,\u201d said Dr. Bennett, himself a veteran of the Navy. \u201cBut what do we do with patients in the meantime? A lot of them will have multiple teeth extracted, and they\u2019ll get a denture. But those need adjusting, they need aftercare, and there\u2019s nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The answer, Drs. Kugel and Bennett decided, was a true, accessible dental home for the state\u2019s underserved veterans. Patients now get referred from the Lincoln VA Medical Center, and all their dental needs are covered. Currently, the VETSmile Clinics are held every Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Initial efforts are being funded by an anonymous donor, and other funding sources are being explored. Currently, the VA is referring Lincoln-area veterans only to the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey told us if they opened it statewide, we would be flooded, and they were right,\u201d Dr. Bennett said. \u201cWe already have a two-year list of patients. But we do need to expand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phone calls have come in from other areas of Nebraska that Dr. Bennett called \u201cheartbreaking,\u201d seeking help that the clinic currently does not have the funds or capacity to provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They have tried other events. On Veterans Day in 2024, the college\u2019s clinic was open for all Nebraska veterans at no cost, again covered by donor funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the need remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOutside of New York University, we\u2019re doing more than any school,\u201d Dr. Kugel said. \u201cFor dental schools, this is becoming a popular topic, but we\u2019re way ahead of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Credit Dr. Kugel, who has been working with veterans since his time in Boston, teaming with a dental hygienist to hold low- or no-cost dental screening events in Boston homeless shelters and a low-income housing complex for veterans in Brighton, Massachusetts. His efforts caught the attention of one of his patients \u2014 Ashton Carter, the United States\u2019 25th secretary of defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result was a program called Service with a Smile, where dentists treated veterans in private practice. Once a month, Dr. Kugel\u2019s office provided free comprehensive dental care to homeless veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drs. Kugel and Bennett lauded their student and faculty volunteers, many of whom \u2014 like Dr. Bennett \u2014 are former military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got some of the best students I\u2019ve ever worked with,\u201d Dr. Kugel said. \u201cI\u2019m going to venture they are some of the best in the country \u2014 you could walk into their dental chair today and get the equivalent of what you\u2019d get from a dentist who\u2019s been practicing for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re an incredibly dedicated group of students, and they participate in the clinic because they want to be the best. They want experience. The other day, a group of students were recontouring a bony ridge (on the jaw), two of the best students I\u2019ve ever dealt with in my life. The patient had extractions, and the bone was rough, and they\u2019re recontouring bone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne student put in a bone graft. Another prepped four teeth, then scanned and milled four crowns. All for veterans. We don\u2019t force our students to do this. They just show up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Bennett agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonors are voluntarily funding it, students are voluntarily working on patients, faculty are voluntarily showing up for this clinic. It\u2019s a nice experience. Quite a few students end up teary-eyed just hearing the stories of patients and seeing the patients\u2019 level of appreciation. It\u2019s showing them the impact they can have on someone\u2019s life \u2014 a lot of times, they\u2019re giving people their life back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fourth-year dental student Nick Stolze is one of those volunteers. He joined the team, he said, when he realized the shortage of dental care for veterans in Nebraska made the VETSmile Clinic the only option for some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great way to give back for everything they\u2019ve given to our country,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with the veterans, Stolze said, he realized there\u2019s more to dentistry than fixing a tooth or restoring a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis opportunity is giving them a new outlook on life, which some have wanted and deserved for so long,\u201d he said. \u201cThe opportunity to restore that for them has been very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the student volunteers getting a range of clinical experience, and the veterans getting free care, Stolze called the clinic a win-win for both groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis has been a huge blessing,\u201d he said, noting the pride he has in seeing dental and dental hygiene students volunteering their time and skill to take part in the effort. \u201cI know it\u2019s an experience a lot of my classmates will carry forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catt visited the VETSmile Clinic on his 51st wedding anniversary and said the program has changed his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor Catt, we ended up doing multiple fillings, several crowns, and then partial dentures,\u201d Dr. Bennett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An unexpected reaction? Catt originally had a gap between his front teeth \u2014 what dentists call a diastema. And, he told his care team, his wife didn\u2019t like his smile without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe kept saying he always had that space,\u201d Dr. Bennett said. \u201cSo, yes, it\u2019s a beautiful, perfect smile \u2014 but it\u2019s not him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, they sent a new partial to the lab, with a space added. And when it came back, Dr. Bennett said, Catt couldn\u2019t have been happier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s an important part of it,\u201d Dr. Bennett said. \u201cLet\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>do what\u2019s right. And you see how much you can change someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Catt, who has been receiving services at the dental school for nearly four decades, said he has never had a bad experience working with a dental student or student hygienist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese kids take their time,\u201d he said. \u201cThey call afterward to see how I\u2019m doing. That kind of sincerity has got nothing to do with money; they care about the patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese kids \u2014 and I can\u2019t tell you how many students I\u2019ve<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>had treat me \u2014 when they have a job to do, they strive with pride. Between the students and instructors, they don\u2019t fall short on anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey are all very professional and caring \u2014 they worry about the patient hurting \u2014 because pain is my biggest fear, as with everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t say enough about the college, this program and the students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The challenge for the clinic, Dr. Kugel said, is sustainability. VETSmile is a national liaison between dental schools, such as UNMC and NYU, and local medical centers. But it is a pilot program, only authorized by Congress through 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is intended to demonstrate that there is a mechanism for doing this successfully to then try to get federal funding,\u201d Dr. Bennett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And since the goal is to tackle bigger problems than simple cleanings or cavities, work sometimes takes several appointments, effecting how many people the clinic can take on as patients and creating a growing waitlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, Dr. Kugel is eyeing not only funding the clinic past 2026 but expanding it to Omaha, and the college is exploring support possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Dr. Kugel, Dr. Bennett and their faculty and students, this is not only a labor of love. It is fulfilling UNMC\u2019s mission to improve the lives of the people of Nebraska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of dental need in Nebraska, and we are short on dentists,\u201d Dr. Kugel said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the vet can go a block or a mile away and find a dentist. If you\u2019re in the western part of the state, it\u2019s hard to find a dentist if you\u2019ve got money. It\u2019s almost impossible if you don\u2019t have money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a state, this is the problem we are facing. And as the state\u2019s dental college, we are committed to being part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Erin Wirth and the UNMC College of Dentistry contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UNMC\u2019s College of Dentistry serves eligible Nebraska veterans through donor-funded program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":122349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"65007,67993,92908,40504,53700,35189","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-connect","author_override-john-keenan-unmc-strategic-communications"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Clinic gives veterans reason to smile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UNMC\u2019s College of Dentistry serves eligible Nebraska veterans through donor-funded program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/05\/30\/clinic-gives-veterans-reason-to-smile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clinic gives veterans reason to smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UNMC\u2019s College of Dentistry serves eligible Nebraska veterans through donor-funded program.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/05\/30\/clinic-gives-veterans-reason-to-smile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta 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