The Shelby Star
More than two dozen smiles got a free upgrade Saturday in Shelby thanks to North Carolina Baptists on Mission s Mobile Dental Ministry.
The rolling dental clinic, staffed by dentists, assistants and hygienists from multiple providers in Gaston and Cleveland counties, set up shop for the second year in a row in the parking lot of Pleasant City Church on County Home Road.
It s a one day effort designed to extend much needed, and sometimes long deferred, dental care to Cleveland County s uninsured, poor and migrant populations.
Shelby s Ashley Hendrick was among some 30 patients Saturday who stepped aboard the generator powered bus and into the mobile dentist s chair. She said dental insurance is too expensive to squeeze into her monthly budget but jumped at the chance to get a trio of fillings completed Saturday that will hopefully head off more expensive, or painful, procedures down the road.
A local church is preparing to help people in the community get the dental care they need.
For the second year, Pleasant City Church off of County Home Road in Shelby has partnered with the North Carolina Baptist Association and area dentists to host a mobile dental clinic on Saturday, Jan. 30, for families with the greatest dental needs in the community, said associate pastor Jonathan Glisson.
So far 58 families have applied to take part in the one-day event, and the church will take applications through Monday. People must apply to be seen. There are no walk-in appointments available due to COVID-19 restrictions, Glisson said.