Public Health opens new dental clinic

By Pam Wright Local Journalism Initiative pamwrightlji@gmail.com

Low-income seniors in Chatham-Kent needing dental care have a new reason to smile.

That’s thanks to a new CK Public Health dental clinic that officially opened earlier this month.

Located at 519 King St. W. on the Robertson Avenue side of Riverview Gardens, the clinic will assist clients who qualify for the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program or the Healthy Smiles Ontario initiative.

The clinic does not take payment for service, with the exception of clients having to pay a minimal fee to make new dentures.

CK Public Health program manager Carina Caryn, said the expansion of the provincially funded dental care programs created the need for bigger digs.

Caryn said CKPH was grateful to serve the needs of residents at its former King Street East location for many years, but the need is growing, adding that with more people accessing the new funding “it was necessary for us to move to a larger location to better meet the needs of our clients.”

The clinic, which is staffed with two program assistants, three certified dental assistants, two registered dental hygienists and a dentist, offers a variety of services. Though each client is different, under Healthy Smiles Ontario, services covered can include exams, routine checkups and preventative services.

The Ontario Seniors Dental Care program covers such things as examinations; assessments; X-rays; preventative work, such as cleanings; restorative services to repair broken teeth and cavities; and oral surgery services to remove teeth.

I’ve long complained in this paper about the “Chatham Left” – where drivers turn left onto a four-lane road and immediately go into the right lane, which is illegal and can cause an accident.

And then there’s the speed limit. It seems no one drives it. They are either below it or well above it. Each situation can lead to accidents. Drive too slow and someone from the fast brigade is prone to speed past you in some manner, not necessarily legally.

Case in point is one situation I saw recently on St. Clair Street in Chatham. A white pickup truck in the left-hand lane heading north opted to use the centre turn lane as a passing lane.

The driver seemed rather impatient with a line of cars in front of them, so he or she pulled out, hammered on the gas and roared past everybody.

Umm, it’s a turn lane, pal.

And, a reason for the five or six cars travelling at maybe the speed limit in front of them was that the lead vehicle was seeking to turn left onto Paxton Drive. Good thing that driver was observant, or else they’d have pulled in front of the speeding truck coming up beside them. Because who expects to be passed in the turn lane?

Accident avoided.

We’ve got heavy farm equipment on our roads in rural areas at this time of the year as well. Please, be patient. There is no need to put lives at risk.

The simplest thing to do is to give yourself plenty of time to get to wherever you are going. If you’re late, don’t blame others, including the drivers in front of you.