Long lines at social service centers are being reported across the state due to transitions in the public benefits system. Individuals desperate for dental relief have resorted to emergency room care.
Angel’s Community Clinic in Murray hasn’t experienced significant increases in health care demands, yet. Executive Director Sherry Crittendon says it is still too early to tell. But Crittendon says she gets “several phone calls every day”of patients looking for someone to take care of them.
“Dentists are so short anyway, I mean some of them had a provider before and they got to keep their provider, but anybody that got a new card can’t find anywhere to go, and I just think it’s wrong of the government to say we provided this,” says Crittendon.
Crittendon says the closest offices that do take new patients are often more than an hours drive with appointments that have to be scheduled months in advance.
“The only choice they have for immediate care is to come to the emergency room,” says Scarlet Barnett ER Director of the Murray Calloway County Hospital.
Barnett says the number of patients requesting dental care is increasing. Unfortunately she says all they can do is temporarily relieve the pain via antibiotics, the rest has to be taken care of by the dentist.
