CHICAGO — For Russell Plambeck, 53, a 2½-hour commute — each way — for a dentist appointment is definitely worth it.

Plambeck was just 17 when he broke his neck in a motorcycle accident and has been in a wheelchair since. He and his partner of 27 years, Theresia Burman, 56, made the drive in August from their home in Morrison, Ill., near the Iowa border, to the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Dentistry, where Plambeck had an appointment at the new Inclusive Care Clinic.

They’ve visited the UIC clinic, at 801 S. Paulina St., a couple of times to get quality care for Plambeck, whose other dentist recommended it.

“This is like an oasis in a sense,” said Plambeck, who grew up in Des Plaines. “It provides me the care that I need.”

Burman said the Inclusive Care Clinic solves a problem not many dentist offices are thinking about: being a place that anybody can access.

“Some people can’t get through the doorways, some people can’t even make it to the front door because there’s no ramp, or they won’t take somebody because of behavioral issues,” Burman said. “That’s not right. Everybody needs to have the medicine and dentistry that they’re entitled to.”

The clinic opened in March, said Leda Mugayar, director of the Inclusive Care Clinic, but the project has been in the works for two years after the nonprofit Delta Dental Foundation gave the college funds for the clinic.

The clinic is inclusive, Mugayar said, because of the design and additional features that wouldn’t be found in the average dental office and make it an accessible option for patients with disabilities or other special needs. The doors and hallways are wider, and there is nothing around that someone could potentially trip on.

There’s a desensitization room for patients to use if they are feeling anxious or stressed. The clinic also has special equipment, such as an apparatus that can fit a wheelchair directly into itself then lift and tilt the patient while in their wheelchair so they can receive their care without leaving the chair.

Mugayar said she was “very involved” with the layout of the clinic and was able to use her experience working with patients with special needs.

The clinic can handle up to 28 patients a day, she said. The staff is made up of three full-time faculty, including Mugayar, one part-time faculty, a dental hygienist, two dental assistants, two front desk managers and a director of clinical operations.

But more than 100 dental students work in the clinic on a rotating basis. The students providing care, under the supervision of staff, are fourth-year dental students. There are also third-year dental students in the clinic at times, but they are only shadowing or assisting to get familiar for their next year of training, Mugayar said.

The clinic offers “almost everything that you would get at a normal dental practice,” Mugayar said, providing screenings, cleanings and more.

Mugayar said in the near future, the clinic will hold virtual appointments via video call to help patients who may not be able to physically come into the clinic.

In addition to dental care, the clinic offers other resources such as occupational therapy and social work.

The clinic is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. In its first six months, the clinic saw about 900 patients and did more than 3,000 procedures including fillings and extractions, Mugayar said.

Susan Rowan, dean of the College of Dentistry, said the inspiration for the Inclusive Care Clinic came in part from a visit to the dental school clinic at the University of Pennsylvania for patients with special health care needs.

When looking at the Chicago area, Rowan said “there were not many dentists that expressed interest or expertise in care for patients with special needs” through websites or other platforms.

The experience dental students are getting from working in the clinic is vital for their careers, Rowan said, as being able to treat all kinds of patients will make them better, more accessible providers.

Rowan said she would like to see the clinic offer residency and fellowship opportunities for further training in an inclusive environment.

“That would give individuals the ability and expertise to perform in this really niche and very critical area of population health,” Rowan said.

Besides the Inclusive Care Clinic, the College of Dentistry has five group practice student clinics where some 240 dental students are providing care as well as several postgraduate specialty clinics.

Rafia Awais, a fourth-year dental student at UIC, said working at the Inclusive Care Clinic is “a great boost of confidence” because she is learning how to broaden her patient portfolio.

“This rotation has really, really helped me be more confident treating patients with special needs,” Awais said.

At this clinic, the “patients dictate the pace of the work,” Awais said.

Awais said one patient she worked with was “really nervous” when she came into the clinic. After taking the patient to the desensitization room, turning the lights to a color of her choice, playing some music and talking for a while, the patient “really opened up” and got comfortable enough to proceed with the appointment.

Another patient came to the clinic once and “did not want to open his mouth,” Awais said. She ended that appointment early. The next time the same patient came, “he was really cooperative,” she said, and she was able to provide the care he needed.

“Sometimes it just depends on how their day is going,” Awais said.

Patients are also learning how to maintain their oral health through proper brushing and flossing, which makes a “big difference” for their long-term care, Awais said.

After graduating, Awais said, she hopes to either work in a dental office that caters to patients with special health needs or start her own practice and “definitely make it a point to be inclusive.”

Rosa Maria Higareda Capilla brought her daughter, Ivanna Chavez, 13, to the clinic because her daughter was recently diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis, a rare condition that has caused a delay in Chavez’s development, and a specialist recommended Chavez get her teeth checked, Capilla said through a translator.

They had a successful first visit to the clinic, Capilla said. “I feel really good,” she said. “I feel like everybody was very attentive, friendly and I felt very comfortable here.”

It had been over a year since Capilla had taken Chavez to see a dentist, she said, because the last dentist they went to didn’t address Capilla’s questions, so she “didn’t like it that much.”

Capilla said she would bring her daughter back to the Inclusive Care Clinic because “they focused on the care my daughter needed” and “gave her good service.”

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