Rob: Going to the dentist isn't any fun.
It can be painful, and for some Oklahomans, it's nearly impossible to go at
all.
That's because there just aren't enough dentists in rural Oklahoma.
According to the Oklahoma Dental Foundation, statistics show nearly 21
thousand Oklahomans are doing without dental care.
Now, five Oklahoma counties, Cole, Cotton, Dewey, Harmon and Roger
Mills, have no practicing dentists at all.
But as our Kathy Holsonbake found, an Oklahoma dental school is
offering some solutions.

Kathy: Dr. Chance Lawless left Rattan, Oklahoma to become a dentist eight
long years ago.
Now he's ready to return to his neck of the woods.
Dr. Stephen Reagan: I think he will really be valuable to a smaller
community.
I wish I could say all our residents went into those smaller areas, you know,
some do, some don't.
Kathy: This year, two of the six graduating residents at OU's advanced
education in general dentistry program are returning to their rural
roots.
Dr. Chance Lawless: Most of the students in dental school, if you'll do a
comparison of the class, you know you'll find that most of those people are
from the bigger cities; they're from the Oklahoma City, Tulsa areas.
And unless you're from a smaller area, you know, you don't just come from
Oklahoma City and then go back to a smaller area, in general; so most of the
people that go back to smaller areas where from there initially.
Dr. Barry Greenley: There's a real big need in rural Oklahoma.
I'm not in a position where I personally track statistics on that, but it
seems like the majority of graduates don't all return to small towns, even when
they come from small towns.
So I think Oklahomans still need people who are willing to back to these
smaller areas and practice.
Kathy: Dr. Lawless has been working in Durant on weekends.
The practice he will soon be joining is already booked three months out.
First, he must finish with one final, difficult patient, me.
Lawless: You had veneers on from canine to canine up front, which is tooth
number six and number eleven.
You had those veneers done I think about 11 years ago.
Kathy: As a child I had asthma, and as many people born in the late 60s and
early 70s would learn, the medicine, tetracycline, used to save our lives,
would forever stain our teeth.
Dr. Barry Greenley screened my case.
He knew the biggest challenge would be to make my teeth look natural,
while blocking out the darkness.
He had no doubt Dr. Lawless was up to the task.
Greenley: I just love how he goes about his methodology and analysis
on cases.
We are very interested in treating aesthetic cases here.
And unfortunately I feel like we have a shortage on those kinds of cases where
they're actually a good case.
Kathy: Once a patient is accepted into the program, they will pay 30 to 50
percent less than at a private practice, all while getting
state-of-the-art dental care.
Reagan: We really try to manage this like a business.
And we've been able to invest in some high tech things that really have
made us cutting edge.
Kathy: The residents already have their license to practice
dentistry in Oklahoma.
They're just looking for more experience when they enter the program.
Greenley: We like our residents to be self motivated, ask us tough
questions that I may not know the answer to, and then say why don't both of
us look that up, and then we can get back and talk about things.
Kathy: Dentists here see everything, single visit crowns, dentures,
partials, root canals and implants.
No case is routine or ordinary, as I was about to find out.
Dr. Lawless had molded a beautiful set of natural looking crowns, only my
gums did not cooperate and recede to where they met my teeth.
So we had to recast the molds, remake the temporary crowns and wait
for the lab to do its job.
Lawless: I would let any of these guys work on me at any time.
I mean, I know them all real well, and I feel like the standard of care here
is excellent.
Kathy: And Oklahomans aren't afraid to travel miles for that care.
Reagan: We have them come from all over the state.
Kathy: The patients aren't the only ones to receive a payoff.
Reagan: The most rewarding part for me is definitely the growth I see in the
residents, from when they begin the program in July until they finish the next
June.
How much they learn and how much better they are, how much better providers
they are.
That's very rewarding.
Kathy: It's a huge difference.
Rob: Joining me now is our Kathy Hoslonbake.
Well, let's see 'em.
Kathy: Well what do you think?
Rob: They look great and quite good.
They do.
Kathy: I'm really proud of them, and you know they say a million dollar
smile; this isn't quite that close because it's a lot cheaper at the OU
Dental Clinic.
Rob: Yeah, and you know, I think an important point to make here is, you know,
we first started working together while you were still in college, and I
distinctly remember, oh so many years ago, that you were self conscious about
the way your teeth looked.
Kathy: Oh yeah.
They were gray.
And, I would talk like this, and I wouldn't smile.
And you know at that time it was personal, but when I became a television
reporter, it affected my delivery, and you can't really do your job like
that.
So I got my first veneers fourteen years ago probably, no, eleven years
ago.
And it made a big difference in how I express myself.
Rob: So while a lot of people would consider cosmetic surgery as an
elective, it really is probably more important to a lot of people.
Kathy: It is, and in my case, the old veneers started cracking, because
they were eleven years old, and they only lasted, at that time, for eight
years.
These are actually crowns, and they should last for 20 years until I don't
have any teeth.
Rob: Okay, let's talk a little bit about the dental school.
While people, like you, went to it because they think it's a great deal,
there are some people out in this world that it's their only choice.
Kathy: Oh yeah, and one of the patients at the clinic had grown a really long
mustache, because he had no teeth.
And so that covered it up, and you know it had to affect the way he ate and
everything else, but when he went to the clinic and got his new false teeth,
the mustache was gone, it was a different person, you know, he had to have
that.
And then there was another, they have implants for people who
have partials and would rather have implants.
And it's state-of-the-art equipment, and it's a licensed dentist doing it,
but they're just going to OU to get more experience.
Rob: They're training, the next generation.
Now, and again, it's state-of-the-art equipment, but it's also
as somewhat of a reduced cost.
Kathy: Oh yeah.
You have to pay.
It's not free.
But, you will pay 30 to 70 percent less than you would in a private
practice.
Rob: Well, a nice story, and certainly a great program.
Now if you would like to learn more about the OU Dental School, you can
read more about it in the January edition of OKLAHOMA LIVING, and we
have a link to that story on our web site at OkHorizon.com; just click
on value added.