![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DSC00141-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&quality=89&ssl=1\")
Staffed by volunteer UCSF dental students, the Magic Tooth Bus is one solution to reaching the city\u2019s Latinx children and older adults, who are more likely than other ethnic groups to face barriers to dental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Viviana Calambas brought her young son to the April 14 mobile pop-up, which had a kid\u2019s table full of human teeth plushies. “It’s sometimes difficult to find professionals that can really understand how to treat children,\u201d said Calambas. Danny Do, dental student volunteer, agreed: \u201c[Kids] like crazy, fun personalities. Getting them more familiar with a dental setting is so vital in terms of their relationships with dentistry.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the co-founders of the Magic Tooth Bus, Mylene Deano, is a registered dental assistant that used to work at a community health center. Even though the center provided dental services to underserved populations, Deano said she still saw many kids and families miss critical appointments. “Some of the factors could have been transportation, their working situation, [lack of] child care,\u201d said Deano. \u201cSo that’s why we came up with an idea: ‘Why not bring the dental access on site?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n UCSF professor Benjamin Chaffee, who specializes in oral healthcare, says community outreach and education are vital to breaking barriers to dental healthcare. “Many times we think of oral health and dental care as a luxury or commodity that’s available to those who can pay for it,\u201d said Chaffee. \u201cAnd not something that’s a right that everybody deserves,” Ultimately, Chaffee says dental healths needs to be better integrated with general medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the short-term, Natareno has one message for the city\u2019s Latinx community: “When you see these programs that come into the city, please invite more people \u2026 We shouldn’t let these services go by and we shouldn’t waste these opportunities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next Magic Tooth Bus pop-up will be hosted on Saturday, June 8 at the Pop-Up Village at Southeast Community Center in San Francisco\u2019s Bayview.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Magic Tooth Bus is one solution to reaching the city\u2019s Latinx children and older adults, who are more likely than other ethnic groups to face barriers to dental health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":60891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":true,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3570,7,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[23943],"class_list":["post-60889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news","category-news","category-resources","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/DSC00131-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&quality=89&ssl=1\")