UCLA School of Dentistry clinic provides free dental care

The UCLA School of Dentistry and the Wilshire State Bank provided dental care to about 130 people who cannot afford to pay for private healthcare on Saturday.

In the first of a series of events to be held over the next five years, the clinic provided treatment that included fillings and teeth extractions.

“(The clinic) addresses patients who would need a lot of dental care who don’t have the means to do it,” Camargo said.

Wilshire State Bank provided $100,000 to fund the clinic.

Earlier this month, about 250 patients were first examined and treated for minor dental problems in Wilshire State Bank near Koreatown. Patients who required further care were directed toward the clinic on Saturday.

During the screening, many of the patients were found to have multiple dental problems, Camargo said.

Some of the patients being treated at the clinic had not seen a dentist in several years, said No-Hee Park, dean and distinguished professor at the UCLA School of Dentistry.

The patients who required additional treatment were taken to the UCLA Dental Clinic by bus on Saturday, where dentists performed more complicated procedures, such as fillings, extraction of teeth, root canals, making dentures and gum treatment.

The majority of patients were from Koreatown, where Wilshire State Bank is located, Park said.

Sun Hee Lee, a 52-year-old Koreatown resident, said she went to the clinic to receive a restorative filling on Saturday. She said she did not realize she needed to get the filling done until she went to the screening on Oct. 12.

“I’m glad that I could get treatment today because if it was prolonged it could have gotten worse,” Lee said in Korean.

Typically, a dentist treats around eight patients a day, Park said. At the event, 136 patients were treated in a six-hour period, which made the event difficult to plan, he added.

In order to accommodate all of the patients, about 140 people, including doctors, students, residents and staff from both UCLA and Wilshire State Bank, worked at the clinic.

Marie Dizon, a fourth-year dental student who assisted dentists with procedures at the event, said she enjoyed the opportunity to provide treatment to patients rather than just give consultations.

She added that many of the students brought their own dental kits for the doctors to use during the procedures.

The UCLA School of Dentistry and Wilshire State Bank are planning to host a dental fair next year in another bank branch located near a historically Hispanic community, Park said.