Greater Portland

Oregon’s Tooth Taxi offers free dental care for communities in need: Season of Sharing 2022

Lying in a dental chair in the front of a retrofitted RV, surrounded by equipment and cartoon animals painted on the walls, 8-year-old Kihanna sat patiently, staring up at a TV mounted to the ceiling as the dentist worked away inside her mouth.

Except for a slight twinge during a shot of Novocaine, Kihanna didn’t seem nervous at all. She might not have a ton of experience with dentists, but this wasn’t her first trip to the Tooth Taxi.

Run by the Dental Foundation of Oregon, the Tooth Taxi is a mobile dental office that provides free care to communities in need. Every year it makes stops around Oregon, from Baker City to Brookings, taking X-rays, doing cleanings and filling cavities, making sure cost isn’t a barrier to oral health. The foundation is a beneficiary of The Oregonian/OregonLive’s 2022 Season of Sharing holiday fundraising campaign.

Dr. Jacob Goertz was the dentist on hand the last week of October, when the Tooth Taxi was stationed in the Community Transitional School parking lot in Northeast Portland. Goertz is contracting with the Dental Foundation of Oregon while it looks to hire a full-time dentist for the Tooth Taxi, but he’s no stranger to the program: 10 years ago, he spent more than a year traveling Oregon with the mobile dental office, he said.

“I kind of jumped on the opportunity because I love the Tooth Taxi,” Goertz said. “There’s a lot of kids who are just going about their days with active decay and cavities, and if someone doesn’t come and provide them with dental services, they just don’t get them.”

> Donate to the Dental Foundation of Oregon or the Season of Sharing general fund

The Tooth Taxi began in 2006, the vision of a group of dentists who also served as board members for the Dental Foundation of Oregon. Amber Fowler, current executive director of the foundation, said the Tooth Taxi has become the primary way the organization has achieved its mission of advancing oral health education and providing care and resources for children and vulnerable communities around the state.

Between 2020 and 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tooth Taxi provided $271,811 in services with 637 individual appointments and 506 dental cleanings, according to the organization. This year it aims to do more.

The Dental Foundation of Oregon has a longer history than the Tooth Taxi, first founded in 1982 as the charitable arm of the Oregon Dental Association, a branch of the American Dental Association. In its most recent tax filing, the foundation reported assets of nearly $4.7 million, primarily from investments in an endowment fund, which can only partially fund its operations. The foundation also received almost $600,000 in revenue that year, mostly from contributions and grants. It relies primarily on volunteers and contractors, with Fowler as the only paid employee, according to tax documents.

Fowler said a big chunk of the foundation’s current budget was going to the completion of a new Tooth Taxi, replacing the old RV. The cost of building out the new mobile dental office, dubbed the Tooth Taxi 2.0, has only been going up, with inflation and supply chain issues increasing prices and prolonging the process.

Until the new one is ready, the old Tooth Taxi will continue serving patients like Kihanna, who on her recent visit had two cavities for Goertz to address. One was on a baby tooth that would soon fall out, but the other was on a tooth that would likely stick around a little longer, he told her, meaning it would probably be a good idea to get it filled.

“OK,” Kihanna shrugged, turning her attention back to the TV on the ceiling.

Goertz and dental assistant Carrie Peterson quickly went to work. They were equipped with all the tools and medical equipment they needed – like any other dental office, just on wheels. When they were done, they sat Kihanna up, then let her pick from a box full of small toys. Sporting a new purple fairy ring on her finger, Kihanna said she liked coming aboard the Tooth Taxi whenever she could.

“It’s fun because they fix your teeth so nothing goes wrong,” she said, her tiny teeth white and shiny. Having healthy teeth allows her to eat her favorite food, sushi, and not have to worry about being in pain, she said.

Not every kid handles a dental appointment as well as Kihanna, but those working in the Tooth Taxi aim to provide as pleasant an experience as possible.

“We always try to be upbeat and optimistic about their experience, even if they’re having a tough time,” Goertz said. “It’s something really rewarding to be able to work and have that outcome, providing service to kids, whether they recognize how significant it is at the time or not.”

What your donation can do

$25: Provides five oral health care kits (toothbrush, tooth paste, dental floss) for five youth ages 5 to 18 years old who are served on the Tooth Taxi.

$50: Provides one dental exam, one dental cleaning, and one oral health care kit (toothbrush, tooth paste, dental floss) to one youth age 5 to 18 years old who are served on the Tooth Taxi.

$100: Provides one classroom of students with in-classroom oral health education provided by a Tooth Taxi dental team member, and one oral health care kit (toothbrush, tooth paste, dental floss) for each student participant.

— Jamie Hale

503-294-4077; jhale@oregonian.com; @HaleJamesB

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