Call going out for Upstate Dentists

One challenge in rural communities, such as Oconee County, is dental health issues.  Mountain Lakes Access Health, a non-profit, comprehensive health program in Oconee and Pickens counties is currently in the process of establishing a dental clinic in the area to serve the needs of low-income and uninsured individuals.  Mountain Lakes Access Health executive director Cortni Nations gives details.  “The statistics show that one of the top three reasons that the uninsured visit the emergency department are for dental related emergencies.  Therefore, we have been looking at ways to combat that.  We are very fortunate to have three dentists volunteering with our program currently and that has been a huge help and we are very grateful to them and we know that other organizations in the community have a go-to dentist that they call on for charity care, so we wanted to provide a more coordinated approach, try to get more dentists involved and bring them under one roof.” Oconee Medical Center has donated space to Mountain Lakes Access Health for a dental clinic, explains Nations.  “The hospital has donated five vacant patient rooms within the hospital.  They have donated the space and they said if you can raise the money, you could house a dental clinic here.  I am pleased to report that we have secured the funding for year one to be able to get it up and running.  We are hoping to start renovations soon.  DHEC is requiring a few minor renovations on that floor.  But we are hoping to have that open in the fall.” Mountain Lakes Access Health is still looking for dentists to volunteer their time to the program.  Donations are also being accepted at www.mtlakesaccesshealth.org or by calling 864-885-7341.