Mobile dental unit will spend summer in Albion

Photos by Tom Rivers – The mobile dental unit is parked behind Oak Orchard Health at 301 West Ave. in Albion.

Denise Beardsley has been coordinator of the Oak Orchard Health mobile dental unit since it started 10 years ago.

ALBION – For 10 years Oak Orchard Health has been taking a mobile dental unit to the five school districts in Orleans County, cleaning teeth, doing sealants and extractions.

The dental unit spent the summers in Wyoming County. But now that Oak Orchard Health has a new center in Warsaw with dental services, the mobile dental unit is parked for the summer in Albion.

“We do everything you would get in a dental office except we’re on wheels,” said Denise Beardsley, the unit’s coordinator.

Two dentists, a hygienist and an assistant work out of the site that is parked behind Oak Orchard Health at 301 West Ave.

Beardsley said the unit has worked with thousands of children over the decade, helping to improve their oral health. The unit is open to everyone in the community, not just children. It accepts insurance and offers a sliding scale fee for people without insurance.

The unit has two rooms for dentists to work on patients. During the school year, Oak Orchard visits the five schools in Orleans and also Oakfield-Alabama in Genesee County.

Beardsley has developed relationships with teachers, nurses and school superintendents who steer children and their families to the dental services.

“We think it’s making a difference,” she said. “The kids have fewer cavities.”

For more information, call Beardsley at 267-9236 or check the Oak Orchard web site by clicking here.