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07 Spring

Beep Beep: CU's SmileMakers' Bus Is Coming!

Alison Fronczak

You've probably seen CU's newest public health venture parked outside the dental school in the form of a brightly colored bus. This is the Colorado SmileMakers Program's bus that travels to Rocky Mountain towns in Grand County, Eagle County and Yuma County giving students an opportunity to provide kids dentistry who don't have any other access to quality dental care. Recently the SmileMakers' bus made its maiden voyage May 7th to Grand County (near Winter Park) where dental students treated kids in Granby and Kremmling for two weeks. The bus' captain is global health dentist and former Commerce City Salud Clinic director, Dr. Gary Dunckel. Dr. Dunckel says he took on the challenge of being the bus's first preceptor because he "wanted to be a part of a new innovation for the university and invent a solution to the same problem. It was an adventure."

Dr. Dunckel's crew on board included dental students Josh Zenon, Van Tran, Alison Fronczak and Ty Vaughan, and assistants, Nancy Groswald and Kirsten Hoffman. Fourth year dental student, Josh Zenon, says he wanted to work on the bus because it was a unique public health opportunity. "Public health is something that interests me and I didn't know a whole lot about it and one way to gain more experience was to work on the SmileMakers' bus in an underserved area. I liked being one of the pioneer students on the bus to see how it works."

Working on a low income population is an important learning experience says Dr. Dunckel. "It desensitizes the elitist student and gives them exposure that is it okay to work with a poor population." SmileMakers' bus director, JoAnn LeClaire, says the bus gives students an opportunity to take their skills and put them in an outreach program because there is a dental need in rural areas.

There is a lot packed into the ultra high tech SmileMakers' bus with three fully functional dental operatories all housing the same equipment used in the school's clinic. The major differences from working in the bus versus the clinic is that digital radiographs are taken with a hand held x-ray machine and there is a lot less space to maneuver.


Tight Spaces
"Students worked in a limited space and their dental preceptor had to squeeze through so he could get to each student and patient. This is when you have to have a good positive attitude about the whole situation because it is not like working in a dental office. It is remarkable within itself," says LeClaire. Dr. Dunckel likened working on the bus to working on a submarine. "In such tight quarters everyone has to get along. If a person got grumpy about sliding forward (when someone needs to pass by) then you would have tension throughout the bus," he says. Since everyone on board had to "shimmy" through the tight spaces, the bus eventually got the nickname, "Shimmy Rig".

The crew on board experienced more challenges than just fitting through tight spaces. Within a few hours of the bus' inaugural run, the crew had problems with the digital scanner. Zenon rose to the challenge and worked hard to solve these problems. "There were little inefficiencies that needed to be dealt with. The first group experiences things that future students won't


Dr. Gary Dunckel
experience," says Zenon. LeClaire isn't surprised the bus had a few hang-ups. She says you can't expect everything to work perfect the first time. "We didn't think it was going to run 100% but we certainly tried to limit the problems. These problems will happen in a regular dental office too."

Despite the bus' radiology glitch and mastering "the shimmy", Zenon says the experience was worth it. "I had a great time being around parents and the children are so appreciative of our dentistry. I got to see how serious the underserved dilemma is in terms of the number of people and the amount of care they truly need." With oral hygiene instruction and dental care, these children can turn into adults who care for their teeth. We can make a difference for them, he says. Dr. Dunckel also has high praises for the SmileMakers' inaugural run. "I feel we made tremendous strides." He says the highlight was working with the four dental students and having zero child management problems. "I got a few leg hugs and parents were really pleased."

Zenon has a message for dental students. "Students need to get out there, get on the bus and do it." He says many ACTS rotations are in the city but this is one that is out in a beautiful community that is isolated where people aren't just able to drive in town and receive dental care. Dr. Dunckel agrees the bus is an asset to ACTS rotations. Now the school is not limited to send students to a specific location but can go anywhere there is a need and a bus this high tech allows you to do everything, he says.

Thanks to the SmileMakers' operations, Dr. Dunckel predicts these mountain communities will eventually see a turn around in their children's oral health. "As long as we are consistent and visit the same places, we will slowly increase the oral health of underprivileged kids in these areas. After four to five years, we will have an effect." The façade of the SmileMakers' bus appears to be as bright as its future and the mountain roads it travels endless with possibility.