APPLETON (NBC 26) — The new Tri-County Community Dental Clinic mobile bus arrived in time to help children who hadn’t seen a dentist for a long time due to the pandemic.
Donations by major donors made it possible to purchase the new $650,000 bus before it was delivered at the end of 2020, said Jeff Buchta, Tri-County Dental executive director. The bus has three chairs, an x-ray and other necessary dental equipment.
The bus program goes to schools in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties to offer free dental care to any child that qualifies for the free and reduced lunch program. The program got their first bus in 2009, which helped a lot of children who couldn't otherwise make it to the dentist office.
"Here, if people don't show up we have an empty seat," Buchta said. "On the bus, if a child is sick, they just bring in another child from the school and keep the flow going. So it works really well to keep the number of kids we can serve at a maximum level."
The program has nearly 100 dentists and specialists who volunteer their time, usually about a half day at a time, Buchta said.
"It's really, literally a change of life," he said. "Some of these kids just really did not want to talk, did not want to participate, had no self-esteem. But when they came out of the program, they had completely changed their lives. They were friendly, they would smile again. One mother called and said it was the first time she'd seen her daughter smile in 10 years. So it's a very rewarding program."
