Last week, the Salud Dental Clinic held its second free dental outreach program in the Estes Park School District. Nearly 70 elementary students were seen throughout the day in the on-site outreach program aimed at reducing obstacles to accessing dental care.
“There are a lot of barriers that are kind of the same as barriers that people of lower-income families see in obtaining any kind of service—whether it’s health care, oral health care, or anything else,” said Albert Hong, a dentist with Salud who coordinates the program. “There’s transportation, there’s education, there’s financial barriers, which is usually the biggest barrier.”
Salud plans to continue offering free screenings twice a year, with clinics scheduled for September and February of the upcoming school year.
According to Hong, the screenings aim to catch children’s dental issues early and connect families with the care they need, whether through Salud or another clinic.
Hong emphasized the importance of early identification of dental issues in children, noting that untreated oral health problems can become serious if left unaddressed.
“If they had a really bad tooth infection, the worst-case scenario would be that they could end up going to urgent care, or even, you know, ending up being far more serious—including death,” Hong said, explaining that while such a serious result was rare, there were a handful of cases in which it did occur.
In addition to the impact of health issues, dental issues can also cause students to miss school and cause attendance problems, which can disrupt learning.
This screening was supported by volunteers from local organizations, including the Woman’s Club and the Kiwanis Club. Members of these organizations helped facilitate the event, ensuring it ran smoothly. Hong emphasized the crucial work volunteers do behind the scenes, particularly in fundraising efforts.
“We always appreciate the enthusiasm and the genuine kind of caring that volunteers bring when they come out to help,” said Hong. “It certainly helps things like these outreach events run smoother.”
Beyond just these types of screenings, the clinic plays a crucial role in supporting dental hygiene for the community by providing services free for all kids 20 and under, an essential resource to families who might otherwise struggle to afford or access dental care.
However, the future of these services is at risk as the Salud Foundation faces financial challenges. Hong says the community would be adversely impacted if the clinic were forced to close.
“There are a lot of folks in the community that benefit from having these services provided,” Hong said. “We exist to serve folks who are typically in the lower income bracket. And without us being here, I don’t know of another type of organization similar to ours that would be able to fill that role.”
In addition to the clinic’s impact on the community, Hong expressed the fulfillment of serving a community like Estes Park.
“Coming to a community like Estes Park, where it feels like a smaller, tighter-knit community, you can see the impact and feel the impact from the patients that you see in a way that you don’t get quite as much in maybe a more metropolitan area,” Hong said. “To help community members—especially some of the most vulnerable—is really rewarding and so cool that we can help these kids get free dental care.”
Hong grew up in Tempe, Ariz., and attended the Arizona School of Dentistry and Health at A.T. Still University, a medical school focused on community health.
Bilingual in Spanish and English, Hong was initially interested in going to grad school for chemistry or med school, before deciding on a dentistry career. “Dentistry wasn’t even on my radar. I was on the pre-med track,” Hong confesses.
After college, Hong moved to San Diego for a few years and worked in biotech for several There, he got involved with the University of California San Diego’s Pre-Dental Society and was exposed to the community health side of medicine.
“That’s when I got really interested in this. A whole other world that I wasn’t even aware. Hands-on and being able to help people,” said Hong.
Through the Pre-Dental Society, he worked with several nonprofit dental clinics, including the Mercy Ship Humanitarian Mission in Nicaragua. During dental school, he also worked in a rural community in Alaska with the Yupik and Chupik populations.
Drawn to community medicine and the needs of the indigent and unhoused populations, Hong, has been with Salud for nine years.
In addition to Hong, Salud Dental clinic has a staff of five, including two dental assistants, a dental hygienist, and a front desk assistant. The services include dental fillings, extractions, oral surgery, crowns, bridges, partial and full dentures, root canals, and pathology examinations to identify oral cancer and biopsies.
The clinic also offers three-week rotations for third and fourth-year dental students from Colorado University and the University of Illinois.