BALTIMORE, May 16 (UPI) -- More than 2,500 homeless U.S. veterans are flashing new smiles thanks to a Veterans Affairs clinic and dental school partnership, dentists say.
Douglas Barnes, a dentist at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore, says the partnership was formed because the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Dental Clinic was overwhelmed by the number of homeless veterans eligible for the initiative's dental care.
In February 2007 the clinic and the University of Maryland Dental School streamlined the approval process to assure proper care is provided to veteran patients, Barnes says.
"We fix up their smiles so they can interview for jobs and continue their lives. Smiling is a very important part of meeting people and socializing," Barnes says in a statement.
"The patients can receive fillings or partial dentures, but the treatment first concentrates on preventing infections."
The collaboration benefits veteran dental patients and dental students. Dental students must learn to act as primary care providers, including providing emergency and multidiscipline oral healthcare, health promotion, disease prevention and use advance dental treatment methods and technologies on patients, Barnes says.
