HELPING TO BRING A SMILE DENTAL CENTER TO AID UNINSURED.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM

Staff Writer

WINNETKA -- Expanding the menu of social services it offers uninsured residents, a local organization premiered a new dental facility Wednesday that will officially open this fall.

Since 1971, El Proyecto del Barrio has provided drug and alcohol prevention and treatment, job training and employment and primary health care and education to west San Fernando Valley residents.

With four new dental rooms and four more exam rooms at its Winnetka facility, the organization will be able to expand its services to the uninsured community.

"The number of uninsured has grown in the last five years, so these new examination rooms and dental office will be a very important service, especially among those who have other illnesses, such as diabetes," said Corinne Sanchez, president and CEO of the nonprofit.

The four-room dental center was created using $180,000 in federal money earmarked by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.

"Even people who have medical insurance may not have dental insurance," Sherman said after touring the center. "This is a chance to reach those residents, to encourage them to visit a dentist for a checkup even when they don't have an immediate dental need."

A report released last month by the Valley Care Community Consortium found that in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, 23 percent of children ages 2 to 17 had never been to a dentist.

But the issue of oral health is a national crisis. A first-ever Surgeon General's report in 2000 called dental and oral diseases in the United States a "silent epidemic."

The report found that while 44 million Americans lacked medical insurance, 108 million had no dental insurance and uninsured children were 2 1/2 times less likely to receive dental care.

In California, almost two-thirds of the state's youngsters have dental disease by the time they reach third grade, making it the No. 1 health problem in children, according to a study by the Dental Health Foundation.

The study also found that 4 percent of the children -- or 138,000 -- are in pain or have untreated tooth infections.

"In the Spanish-speaking community, many do not see a dentist," said Dr. Irubiel Barbosa, who will be the new clinic's dentist. "It could be due to a lack of education, or because they can't afford it."

El Proyecto del Barrio's Family Health Care Clinics saw 90,000 visits last year. The clinics are operated in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and East Los Angeles.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Guests tour the medical/dental wing at El Proyecto del Barrio in Winnetka, which will offer services to the uninsured.

(2) Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, tries out an X-ray machine in the new medical/dental wing at El Proyecto del Barrio in Winnetka. Visitors toured the completed facility on Wednesday.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer