Fish For Teeth

photo by Kathleen Ballard

The January 13-14 Dental Van clinic on San Juan Island was a huge success.  The team of local Dental Professionals logged 51 volunteer hours in two days, and completed over $12,900 worth of dental services on 28 individuals.

All this couldn’t have happened without the support of the San Juan County Oral Health Coalition, and the San Juan County Healh and Community Services, who worked together in coordinating this two-day clinic.  The van is offered by Medical Team's International, and Mike and Annie Adams of Nichols Street Suites donated two night's accommodations for the van coordinator (and driver).  And of course, Friday Harbor Marketplace graciously allowed the van to operate in their parking lot, and allowed the pre-screening of patients to be done inside in their employee break area. 

 The Fish for Teeth “Taco Team” served up 230 fish tacos in only 2½ hours of serving; everyone agreed the tacos were delicious.  The rockfish was caught and donated by Matt Marinkovich of Matt's Fresh Fish, the cabbage was donated by Heritage Farm, and the salsa was donated by Pablito's Taqueria (the tacos also had cheese and a squeeze of lime, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla).

Of course, the van isn’t free.  Medical Teams Iternational, who operate the van, charges a fee of $800 per day, for a total of $1,600 for the two-day clinic.  Fish for Teeth paid for the van, but it couldn’t have happened without the support of the San Juan County Oral Health Coalition, and the San Juan County Healh and Community Services, who worked together in coordinating the event.

The opportunity has finally arrived, in the form of a Dental Van sponsored by Medical Teams International, based out of Redmond, WA. We are very excited about this visit and Fish For Teeth is proud to work with this wonderful organization.  Please click here to read the full story from San Juan Update.  Thanks, Ian Byington!

Hello!  We just had a Fish For Teeth Meeting at Key Bank.  (Thank you to all the lovely people had Key Bank for letting us use one of their meeting rooms.)  We discussed the origins of our organization with an interested community member, Dan Levin, who heard about us from one of the dental offices in town.  Mr. Levin owns Dan Levin Originals, jewelry designed, created, and signed by the artist.

We identified a person who has indicated an interest in filling the role between dentists and the treatment plans they provide and myself who will then keep the webpage updated with all the new cases needing attention.  She is busy at the moment with a commitment which is taking some time but we look very much forward to working with her in the near future.  Thanks Tami!

We should have some treatment plans for specific children pretty soon.  We are hoping to start posting that information very soon.  It will be nice to start expressing this great need in our community in such a positive way.

We passed a motion to get started with five initial examinations. The exam with include a cleaning, two x-rays, and a flouride varnish.  The total should be around $150.  We will not be asking for a discount from the providing dentist.  We hope to include a child from Orcas and Lopez because we cover San Juan County and want to be sure to represent the entire county.

We also have a logo design nearing completion.  The designer is Jennifer Rigg of Loea Design.

We decided at our last meeting (May 21, 2010) to spend half of what we have in the bank on initial examinations.  We feel this is the best way to identify a larger portion of our population who need our help.  You will then be able to "Adopt a Mouth," where 100% of your donation goes to fixing that mouth.  You may also choose to make a general donation.  We would like to assure you that we keep administrative costs to a bare minimum.  We want to fix teeth and help other communities do the same with this duplicatable model.  We put your money where someone else's mouth is.