The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Free monthly dental clinic changes hands

Butler County Fair Results, Sunday, Aug. 1
New 23 min. ago
Medical helicopter on scene of College Corner Pike accident
12:29 p.m.
Local band to play some classics at music festival
11:17 a.m.
Children invited to learn from Miami football coach
10:39 a.m.
Community briefs
10:38 a.m.
> More headlines

E-mail this page

1:04 PM Monday, March 15, 2010

By Sarah Reder

Contributing Writer

OXFORD — Operation of the Oxford Talawanda Dental Service has changed hands for the first time since it was founded 10 years ago.

Founder Dr. Jim Thomas recently decided to retire and handed the program over in January to Dr. Doug Hoover, another local dentist.

Oxford Talawanda Dental Service is a free dental clinic offered once each month to children whose families can’t afford dental care.

The program also provides an annual visit to every second-grade classroom in the Talawanda School District. Students are given a check-up and taught the basics of teeth cleaning and cavity prevention.

The program was founded after a local pediatrician, Alan Burke, found 20 percent of local children were going without dental care.

The statistic gave Thomas the idea to provide a free dental service, which he did with the help of one assistant and one dental hygienist.

Thomas said the Oxford Talawanda Service gets its referrals from McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital and the Oxford Family Resource Center makes and confirms the appointments.

The program is funded by a number of organizations, including United Way, the Oxford Community Foundation, the Hamilton Community Foundation, various service clubs and private donations.

Thomas said he had mentioned wanting to hand over the clinic and his friend Hoover was happy to volunteer for the job.

“I just felt it was time for someone else to take over,” Thomas said.

Thomas said until now all patients were treated from his former office, which his son now uses to treat his own clientele.

However, with the changing ownership, the clinic has moved to Hoover’s office at 474 S. Locust St.

Hoover said the program will continue to be available to youth up to age of 16.

“The most important thing we want to emphasize to the children, as well as their parents, is prevention,” Hoover said. “We are showing them that eating right, brushing and flossing is the best way to prevent cavities.”

With the current economic recession, the need for these types of services has continued to grow.

More than 50 new Oxford families have turned to the Family Resource Center for help in the last months, according to executive director Diane Ruther-Vierling.

“We are seeing new families because people in the community are losing their jobs,” she said.

Hoover said he examined close to 40 youth during January’s clinic.

He and his team were forced to cancel February’s clinic due to bad weather, but plan to offer it again this month.

He plans to continue to make the program available on a monthly basis as long as there is a need for it.

Hoover said those who use the clinic are being made aware of the change in location when they make an appointment with the Family Resource Center.

Share this article