An Overland Park pediatric dental clinic has opened a second location in Shawnee.
Wayne Dobbins, DDS, MS, says he hopes to carry dental companies and orthodontics to underserved kids within the space.
Positioned at 15933 W. sixty fifth St. close to Shawnee Mission Parkway and Maurer Street, Sweet Tooth Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics opened June 12.
“Frankly, there’s not a pediatric dentist inside a several-mile radius of right here,” stated Dobbins, a pediatric specialist and board-certified orthodontist. “So for us, the demographic in that sense doesn’t matter. We wish to be the place we will serve the individuals. There’s an overwhelmingly underserved neighborhood right here.”
Denny Dobbins is Wayne’s father and serves as his son’s clinic’s public relations director.
Denny stated their most important objective is to fill a spot, particularly for sufferers with out personal insurance coverage.
A lot of Candy Tooth’s sufferers in Overland Park have personal insurance coverage. In Shawnee, alternatively, they plan to simply accept many sufferers who’re coated by Medicaid or KanCare, or who don’t have any insurance coverage.
“Up north as you get nearer to Kansas Metropolis, there’s lots of people struggling,” stated Denny Dobbins. “That issue determined the place we have been going to construct as a result of we’ve at all times needed to present again to the neighborhood. And the issue is, most dentists don’t take Medicaid. We do, as a result of these people don’t have anywhere to go.”
Ambitions to develop extra
Wayne Dobbins is a graduate of the College of Buffalo and the College of Oklahoma and New York College.
As a pediatric dentist and board-certified orthodontist, the Dobbins’ ultimately hope to develop the apply into Kansas Metropolis, Kan., and Kansas Metropolis, Mo.
They see crimson tape for dentists working by state-run insurance coverage packages as a possibility to supply uninsured and underserved kids with the dental care they want.
“The worst issues for teenagers is that they don’t get their tooth taken care of,” stated Denny Dobbins. “That causes all types of illness and issues. They want them taken care of at a younger age. And if mother and father are too distant [from a clinic], they only don’t take them.”
A welcoming ambiance
A variety of consideration is put into making a enjoyable ambiance at their dental places of work.
The Shawnee location options vivid colours, a play space and an enormous wheel their younger sufferers can spin for prizes.
“Youngsters are scared after they come to a dentist,” stated Denny Dobbins. “They’re scared they’re going to be harm; mother and father are literally scared too, they’re very involved about their youngster. So we attempt to make it enjoyable. No pun meant: It leaves a taste of their mouth that they wish to come again.”
Candy Tooth in Shawnee is accepting new sufferers, takes walk-in appointments and has an emergency line that goes on to Dr. Wayne Dobbins’ mobile phone.
“Our primary focus is on sufferers,” Wayne Dobbins stated. “We predict that’s the precise factor to do, and we predict that may permit us to proceed to develop and serve the Shawnee neighborhood.”
