POMONA >> This weekend one of Fairplex’s vast exhibit halls will serve as an enormous dental clinic where hundreds of health care professionals and volunteers will bring free oral health services to more than 2,000 people who can’t afford such care.

The California Dental Association Cares free dental clinic will be at Fairplex Friday and Saturday. Doors open at 5:30 a.m. No identification is required to receive services.

The clinic, hosted by the California Dental Association Foundation and the California Dental Association, provides much needed services but also highlights the need for programs that allow people, such as the working poor, to access dental services and make it possible to catch problems before they become major health issues, said Dr. James Stephens, past president of the CDA.

 

 

“Taking care of dental disease is easier in the initial stages,” he said.

In 2009, California eliminated adult Denti-Cal benefits as one way of addressing the state’s economic trouble, he said. The program, which is connected to the state’s medical assistance program, was partially restored this year.

This is the third year the CDA Cares clinics are organized around the state and the second time one is conducted in Southern California, Stephens said.

Dentists will do cleanings, fillings, extractions and limited denture work.

 

 

Hundreds of volunteer health care professionals and community volunteers help conduct the clinics. Many other professionals and dental organizations will also assist by agreeing to take on the responsibility of providing patient follow up care should it be required.

Faculty and students from Western University Health Sciences’ College of Dental Medicine will be volunteering their time at the clinic, said Dr. Tim Martinez, associate dean for community partnerships and access to care at the university’s College of Dental Medicine.

Students will help with the set up of the clinic and assist in determining the services patients need, he said.

People seeking dental care will be allowed to park at Gate 9, Blue Gate, on the east side of White Avenue and can line up no earlier than 2 p.m. Thursday, said Michael Chee, director of marketing and public relations at Fairplex.

People will be allowed to sleep over night but no special accommodations will be made, he said.

Fairplex security and CDA Cares teams will monitor crowds, he said.

 

 

If more people than can be accommodated on Friday line up than they will be invited to return Saturday.