Planmeca provides imaging equipment and software to mobile charitable dental clinics

The maintenance of good oral health is crucial for maintaining overall well-being and quality of life. In the United States, the Mission of Mercy mobile dental clinics bring dental care to underserved patients. The charitable clinics provide dental treatment to people with limited resources or access to dental services throughout the country. Planmeca has supported the Missions of Mercy for almost 10 years, providing the clinics with dental imaging units and Planmeca Romexis® software for enhanced diagnostics. In the United States, Planmeca participates in approximately 25 missions annually.

Mission of Mercy is a non-profit initiative coordinated by America’s Dentists Care Foundation (ADCF). The ADCF has developed a system of mobile dental clinics that provides dental care for those who struggle to get it on their own. Since 2008, the ADCF has brought Mission of Mercy clinics to 31 states in the US in collaboration with local state dental associations, helping 285,000 patients who otherwise would not have had access to proper dental care.

Even though the maintenance of good oral health is crucial for maintaining overall well-being and quality of life, several barriers keep people from getting the oral health care they need. These include limited access or availability of dental service in the area, a lack of awareness of the necessity of dental care, the cost of proper dental care, or just a fear of dental procedures. Since the Missions of Mercy bring the services directly to the underserved people, the mobile charitable dental clinics are eliminating the issue of accessing oral health care and the cost of care. Even the patients who fear dental procedures are likely to attend a free clinic once their need for pain relief reaches a certain point. The ADCF is constantly expanding the Mission of Mercy practices throughout the United States to reach as many underserved patients as possible.

Committed to increasing the quality and availability of dental care worldwide, providing dental equipment to those in need is at the very core of Planmeca’s corporate social responsibility initiatives. Planmeca’s subsidiary in the United States, Planmeca USA, Inc., has been involved with the Missions of Mercy for nearly ten years now, and more actively during the past two years. This year, Planmeca is helping about 25 missions, including the ADCF’s Missions of Mercy and a few smaller charity clinics, such as the California Care Force.

Mission of Mercy clinics have been provided with Planmeca Promax®  imaging units.

Depending on the size and clinical needs of each event, Planmeca has provided the Mission of Mercy clinics with from one to five Planmeca ProMax® 2D imaging units and Planmeca Romexis® imaging software for enhanced diagnostics. On a few occasions, Planmeca has also provided the clinics with Planmeca ProSensor® HD intraoral sensors. Local sales representatives are regularly on site to assist the clinics with setting up the devices and helping the dentists with taking images.

“Having our sales representatives on-site is crucial to assisting the ADCF to get everything up and running, but it is also an eye-opener for our team. Our employees have been blown away at the need for access to dental care for the underserved. This underlines how vital our contribution is and continues to be,” the president of Planmeca USA Ed McDonough summarises.