Thirteen dental offices in the greater area Portland offered free dental care to those who normally don't get to a dentist because they can't afford it. It was the fourth annual Dentists Who Care for ME day, which serves hundreds of patients. As Patty Wight reports, some have waited for months - if not the full year - to get the care they need.

At Dunstan Dental Center (right) in Scarborough, the doors were slated to open today at 8:00 a.m., but the line outside started hours before. Marianne Leavitt of Portland says she scoffed when her parents suggested she arrive by 6:00. "I wound up only coming only one hour early, and I was shocked to see at least 30 people here ahead of me," she says.

Leavitt lost her job a few months ago, and with it, her dental insurance. One of her teeth cracked shortly after, so she's here today to get it extracted.

"Sometimes, things don't go the way you plan and it just happens to get really bad, and you get caught in a dreadful situation and you've never before relied on assistance anywhere from anyplace," she says.

Further down the line is Loleeta Foster. She drove over an hour from Augusta just to get free dental care. "My mouth is a train wreck. I need everything removed - infections, getting sick," she says.

Foster says she's on disability, for psychological reasons. While she has medical coverage, she doesn't have dental, and says she's been told it will cost her $5,000 to fix her teeth. Today she's hoping to get a couple of extractions, and some guidance on where to go next for help.

"I want to feel better - I mean it's not nice walking around when you don't even want to smile anymore," she says. "And the pain obviously, I suffer all the time. But when you lose your smile - it's really - it brings me to tears, a lot."

"There's a lot of needy people from all walks of life out here," says this man, who is self-employed and says he can't afford health insurance. He - like many others - asked to remain anonymous because of the stigma he could face if any of his customers found out he needs this help. He's hoping to replace a filling that fell off a tooth this summer.

"You know, I'm tired of carrying my toothbrush in my pocket," he says. "And after I have a bite of something having to brush that one piece of tooth to keep where the filling would be - to keep the food particles out. Because if I can keep it clean, then I can save the tooth."

Dental offices offer three services as part of the event: cleaning, filling, and extractions. As space opens in the waiting room, patients get called in from the cold by volunteer Toni Spirounias. "Waiting for a cleaning, right?" she says. "Okay, one. Cleaning? Cleaning? Cleaning? Four. Okay - that's it. Sorry. Come right on up here."

Inside Dunstan Dental, one of the event organizers, Dr. Demi Kouzounas watches over her practice that's brought in an extra five doctors from other offices for the day. She says people often think the biggest barrier to dental care in Maine is lack of access because of geography. But there's another reason.

"The truth is, if most of these people waiting had financial resources, they'd be calling a dental office or an oral surgeon to get the extraction or the cleaning or the filling," she says.

Inside a treatment room, Dr. Barry Saltz gets ready to fill a tooth for a woman from Dayton named Lisa. "If this bothers you, let me know, okay?" he says. "Okay," Lisa responds. "Fantastic," Saltz says. "Turn towards me for a second."

Dr. Saltz also organizes this event. He says the number of participating dentists grows every year. This year there are 31, plus another 20 who will accept vouchers for the next month for patients who need specialized care.

Dr. Saltz says Maine should do more to meet the needs of patients year round. He says raising MaineCare reimbursement rates would make a big difference. Right now, he says 54 percent of Maine dentists accept MaineCare.

"I can tell you that if reimbursement rates go up, that number will be even higher," he says. "Because unfortunately, those rates are dramatically below our cost of doing business."

"All right my friend, you're done," Dr. Saltz tells Lisa. "Oh, you are awesome," she says. "You did great," he says. "These guys are great," Lisa responds.

After her tooth is filled, Lisa says she feels blessed. "I mean I know I can't afford to go to the dentist," she says. "And, you know, they're taking up their time coming to another office and everybody volunteering -it's just great. It's awesome. It's awesome. These people are awesome, and they're happy to do it."

Dr. Kouzounas estimates that 500 patients were seen by dentists on this occasion, and received the equivalent of about $140,000 in free services.

Photo by Patty Wight.