A three-day clinic in Salina provided free dental care to about 2,500 patients and garnered considerable media attention last weekend.

It was a great effort, but it only happens once a year and requires people to travel from long distances and wait in long lines to receive sometimes long-overdue care.

How fortunate are the low-income residents of Douglas County who can receive the same kind of services by appointment and year-round at the Douglas County Dental Clinic at 4920 W. Bob Billings Parkway in Lawrence.

Newspaper stories about the Salina clinic told heart-wrenching stories of volunteer dentists providing care to people who rarely have such services: the woman with a painful abscess, a young child whose baby teeth were decayed down to the gums, an 11-year-old child whose teeth appeared never to have been cleaned, even with a toothbrush. They are vivid reminders of how important dental care is to an individual’s overall health.

But the hardest job of the day came to the people who had to tell those waiting in line that the clinic was closing down and they wouldn’t see a doctor. The next clinic isn’t scheduled until next February in Wichita.

Those who volunteered their time for the Salina clinic are true heroes, but it’s obvious that one weekend clinic each year can’t fill the need. Since the Douglas County Dental Clinic opened in 2001, the number of people being treated there has increased by more than 1,000 patients each year. More than 3,700 patients were seen in 2004, and, with the recent addition of another full-time dentist, the clinic expects to see 5,000 patients in 2005. The staff now includes two full-time dentists and a part-time pediatric dentist. A third of their patients are children and 95 percent are low-income. The clinic focuses on providing services to Douglas County residents who are uninsured or on public insurance plans.

The clinic pieces together its funding from a variety of sources, including grants from state and private sources. It was added this year to the roster of agencies that receive United Way funding. In addition to paid staff members, many local dentists donate their services either in the clinic or in their own offices. Hygienists and assistants also contribute their time and expertise.

The annual Kansas Mission of Mercy clinics are a wonderful effort that provide much-needed relief to those who get services, but the clinic also points out how fortunate Lawrence is to have an ongoing, by-appointment clinic to provide those services to county residents in need.