Rehoboth Dental Clinic helping smiles across Middle Georgia at reduced cost

January 19, 2017

Joi Dukes,

BYRON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Byron dental clinic is helping Middle Georgians smile at a fraction of the cost.

Rehoboth Life Care Ministries Volunteer Clinic is approaching its 7th year serving low income families and it’s the only one of its kind serving the Middle Georgia Area.

Their mission is to provide quality dental care to those without insurance coverage. They serve patients in Houston, Peach, Crawford and Taylor counties.

“We see people that are low income and have no dental insurance, and so we’re like the safety net that catch these people that have fallen through,” said Director Terry Horn.

Rachel Cox says their patients are the ones who aren’t able to afford or qualify for any other insurance plans.

“Our patients don’t have regular insurance. They’re not able to go see a regular dentist like most of us are so accustomed to, but don’t think twice about,” she said.

But Horn says helping those in need, smile at a fraction of the cost is her favorite part of the job.

“When people come in and have tears in their eyes because they’ve been hurting for so long or because they couldn’t afford a denture and we can help them, it’s a great feeling.”

Horn adds people’s reactions to the help are the most priceless. “It’s like you’ve given me my smile back..you’ve given me my life back,” she continued.

Last year the Rehoboth Dental Clinic saw nearly 800 patients all thanks to a dedicated team of volunteer dentists. This year they want to increase that number with help from community partners, grants, and donations.

But, they can’t do it alone. Cox says helping more patients means a need for more volunteers.

“We are always looking for the community to come and get involved with us because its when our community is as focused on giving back as we are, we can be at our best capacity and we can really serve our people,” she added.

Rehoboth has 600 pending procedures for patients already in the system so the demand for dental staff is high. Horn told 41NBC they’d be happy to have some extra volunteers around to help serve more patients more efficiently.