Village For Vets Provides Free Dental Care To Over 75 Homeless and At-Risk Veterans At Mobile Dental Clinic

In partnership with the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of the University of Southern California (USC) and through the generous sponsorship of the Don & Lorraine Freeberg Foundation, Village for Vets hosted a week-long Mobile Dental Clinic for unhoused Veterans located at Westwood Recreation Center from April 7th-14th. The clinic was successful in providing intensive and critical dental care services to over 75 vulnerable Veterans who were previously without dental care.

While the VA provides excellent health care for Veterans, a significant number of Veterans cannot get access to dental care. Unhoused and at-risk Veterans served face significant and often chronic oral health conditions resulting from lack of access, dental insurance, financial resources to pay for expensive dental care. Dental care offered by the Veterans Administration (VA) is highly complex, highly restrictive, subject to extreme waiting periods, and difficult to navigate, often leaving many Veterans who need care ineligible. As a result, many Veterans experience chronic and severe pain and infection following years of neglect, negatively impacting their ability to chew food, their health, and their overall quality of life.

“While most short-term mobile dental clinics provide basic services, our goal is to provide comprehensive care - whether minor or serious. This means scheduling patients for multiple visits over the course of the week so the dentists can really address the needs of Veterans who haven’t had the ability or capability to address their dental care sometimes for many, many years.” said Executive Director, Mary McGuire. “Poor oral hygiene can lead to painful and serious health outcomes. Some live with constant pain and others are missing teeth, unable to chew solid foods. These are issues that our Vets should not have endure.”

Once the clinic ends, if additional work is still required, the clinic dentists provide referrals so any work that has not been competed can be resolved.

Village for Vets will continue to help reduce the barrier to dental care access during future dental clinics. The organization will hold another clinic in the Fall to continue to support this great need.