Whitefish Soroptimists kick off women's dental program

By LYNNETTE HINTZE / The Daily Inter Lake

Soroptimist International of Whitefish is working with a mother-daughter team of dentists to provide free dental care to low-income women.

The Whitefish Soroptimists " members of a worldwide women's organization that works through service projects to advance the status of women " have allocated an initial contribution of $10,000 for the Smile of Hope program.

Dr. Pam Lilly and her daughter, Dr. Meagan Lilly-Frank, who operate Lilly Family Dentistry in Whitefish, will provide dental care to women who meet the Soroptimists" criteria for financial assistance.

" Pam and I have talked about this for 10 years. The need is so great," said Joanie Sorensen, a registered nurse and Soroptimist member who coordinated Smile of Hope.

Sorensen said she drew inspiration for the women's dental program from Soroptimist International's Women's Opportunity awards that help provide further schooling for head-of-household women who have faced economic and personal hardships. Similar criteria will be used for the dental program; it will focus on women who serve as the primary wage earners for their families.

For women struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table for their children, dental care often takes a back seat to more pressing needs.

" Some women then have rotten or missing teeth" and that can put them at a disadvantage in advancing their careers or getting better-paying jobs, Sorensen explained.

" This is our chance to have a real impact on the community," she added. " This will help people on the most basic level. This is changing women's lives, one smile at a time."

Education will be an important part of the program, Pam Lilly said. She uses a holistic approach in her practice to help teach patients about how improved health practices can affect not only their bodies but also their teeth.

Meagan Lilly-Frank said she's already seen many women who desperately need dental care but have no means to pay for it.

" I had three in last week who were in need," she said. " There's a large component of fear and shame" when they need treatment but can't afford it.

Lilly-Frank joined her mother in the dental practice a few months ago after completing a one-year residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated summa cum laude last year.

She also worked with medical missions in impoverished areas, including one in Austin, Texas. Her passion for helping the underprivileged earned her the university's Schoeni Wolfe DDS Memorial Award for personal motivation and compassionate care.

SORENSEN also has seen the need for dental care firsthand through her volunteer work at Shepherd's Hand Clinic, a free clinic that operates as a ministry of Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

" We'd see teeth floating in a bed of pus, and all we could do is give them antibiotics and send them on their way," she said.

Shepherd's Hand Clinic offered some dental care when the clinic first began more than a decade ago, but that service eventually was shifted to the Touch of Grace free clinic at the Salvation Army.

Touch of Grace eventually phased out its dental services, but Flathead County's community-health clinic in Kalispell will pick up where Touch of Grace left off, adding a full-time dentist and an assistant within a month, according to county health administrator Joe Russell. The community-health clinic is not a free service. Clients are charged on a sliding scale according to their ability to pay.

The Whitefish Soroptimists will use a portion of the proceeds from their Thrift Haus second-hand store in Whitefish to fund the Smile of Hope dental program.

" The need for dental care, from my experience, is great," Shepherd's Hand Clinic coordinator Meg Erickson said, adding that the clinic's only option for dental care presently is to refer patients to the community health clinic in Missoula.

" That's a hardship for most people," she said. " If they have an active [tooth] infection, we can provide antibiotics and then refer them. But usually it's not an isolated problem. They start to fix one problem and find a whole mouth full" of tooth decay.

Application forms for the Soroptimists' Smile of Hope awards can be picked up at Shepherd's Hand Clinic, Lilly Family Dentistry, Haines Drug and the Soroptimist Thrift Haus, all in Whitefish. In addition to filling out the form, applicants will be required to explain in 250 words or less why they would be a deserving recipient of free dental care. Applicants also must supply income information.

For more information, call 862-3669 or 862-7328.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com