Dr. Don Ilkka's father-in-law had stopped eating, so the family called Ilkka, a dentist, to see if he could find out why.
The cause: three broken teeth. But because of the advanced stage of his dementia, Ilkka's father-in-law couldn't communicate why he couldn't eat.
"And that really stuck in my mind. I wondered who's taking care of these people's teeth?" said Ilkka, who has a practice in Leesburg.
His solution was a mobile dental unit, taking a dental office inside the facilities, rather than having patients leave the doors – something that could be disorienting and difficult for people with memory loss.
"And transportation costs are horrendous and it's even more difficult if their spouse is also older," said Ilkka on a recent morning, wearing a lavender scrub and sitting on a couch at the Golden Pond Communities assisted living facility in Winter Garden. "So I thought, let's see if we can bring the service to the facilities."
He founded Thrive Dentistry OnSite three years ago, purchasing a mobile dental power unit from the military, a mobile X-ray unit, a transportable dental chair – and with a van, he had his mobile unit ready to go.
Along with two other dentists, one in Tavares and the other in Winter Garden, Thrive takes dental services to residents of eight assisted living and memory care facilities in Central Florida and is hoping to add four more sites by early next year.
Thrive doesn't have a financial arrangement with the sites, rather, it charges patients on a fee-for-service basis. Patients can also use their insurance.
Having a service like Thrive "takes the stress off the families and it's a marketing tool for me," said Melissa Duhamel, sales and marketing director at Golden Pond.
Ilkka isn't alone in providing mobile dentistry. There are similar services such as Mobile Dentistry of Central Florida, but there are still gaps in dental care for this group.
When it comes to dental care, older Americans are a growing yet underserved segment of the population.
Many don't have dental insurance, a benefit they lose once they retire, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medicare doesn't cover routine dental care. Medicaid does, but it's reimbursements are so low that less than 20 percent of dentists accept it.
Also, older adults may have tooth decay even at higher rates than children, according to the CDC. They're also at higher risk of having severe gum disease and oral cancers, and poor oral health is linked to diseases like diabetes, heart disease and pneumonia.
Thrive provides dental exams, cleaning and treatments that don't require surgery, and is available in case of dental emergencies. Patients receive a comprehensive dental exam, are given an assessment and are asked how they want to proceed with their care.
"What hit me was that he would do complete care," said Duhamel of Golden Pond.
Her father has dementia. "It's hard to take him out and wait in the waiting room, so the first thing that came to mind when I was approached by Thrive was my dad," she said.
The team drops by the facilities once a month or on agreed schedules with the facility, sets up in a room, and keeps digital files of patients' records.
"I think this is a wave of future," said Duhamel. "There will probably be more mobile doctors."
Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/vital-signs/os-mobile-dentist-thrive-dentistry-onsite-20151130-story.html
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