More than 40 dentists and dental professionals are converging on South Central South Dakota as part of the “Rosebud Dental Days” this week.
The event is sponsored by multiple organizations alongside the tribal and federal government. The public private partnership includes Delta Dental of South Dakota’s Circle of Smile project and the mobile dental program, the South Dakota Dental Association, St. Francis Mission Dental Clinic, Rosebud Indian Health Service dental clinic, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
SDPB’s Charles Michael Ray has more on the volunteer effort aimed at improving oral health for Rosebud Tribal residents.
Part of the idea of the Rosebud Dental Days is to make sure tribal residents have adequate access to care. Connie Halverson is with Delta Dental of South Dakota. It’s one of the organizations sponsoring this event. She notes that severe underfunding in the Indian Health Service has left too few dental professionals in places like Rosebud.
“And they just don’t have enough staff to adequately serve the need. You know the population on the reservations is growing and they’re still at the same staffing levels they were at back in the ‘70’s and they’ve had budget cuts and that sort of thing,” says Halverson.
Halverson says transportation issues and a lack of information on the importance of dental health have also contributed to the critical need. She says more programs and partnerships like this are being considered elsewhere in the future.