Instead of bouncing basketballs, the Texas High School gymnasium was filled with the sound of dentist drills Friday morning.
People with painful dental issues were able to receive free dental care at a mass clinic Friday in the gym, where about 200 volunteers worked with 20 local dentists who extracted teeth, filled cavaties and more.
The help was welcome by hundreds of residents who can't afford dental care.
Shanika Wright was waiting to have a filling and two teeth extracted. She's been in pain for months and has even been sent home from work when an abcessed tooth made the side of her face swell up.
"I'm so glad they do this," Wright said. "This will be life-changing to be pain-free."
Texas Mission of Mercy Dental Clinic is conducted by CHRISTUS St. Michael in conjunction with the Texas Dental Association Smile Foundation.
"We know that untreated dental health issues can result in people becoming very ill," said Francine Francis, CHRISTUS St. Michael
communications director.
When that happens and people aren't able to afford dental care for their issues, it can result in visits to hospital emergency departments, which aren't equipped to treat dental problems.
"We do this to help prevent that situation," Francis said. "This is for underserved citizens who might not have the opportunity to seek dental care otherwise."
The need in this community for dental care is great.
"This is the third time we've held this, and we always get 300, 400 to 500 people that show up needing dental services," said Jim Pomeroy, vice president of mission integration for CHRISTUS St. Michael. "It's clearly a chronic need in our community, and dental health is related to so many other health issues including diabetes and heart disease. If we don't deal with this, typically we're not going to be able to help people manage other parts of their illness."
CHRISTUS St. Michael has seen a decrease in the number of people coming to the hospital's emergency department seeking treatment for dental issues since the clinic began.
"When we started this process in 2011, we were seeing over 150 dental health cases a month in our emergency room," Pomeroy said. "Today, we see less than half of that, and we attribute a good deal of that decrease to these events."
The Smiles Foundation does four of the events a year in different Texas cities.
"The importance of this is evident in the people we're seeing here," said Don Lutes, Smiles Foundation board member and general dentist. "These are people that can't afford to get in to see a dentist, and there are hundreds of them in every town in America."
The effort is a labor of love for the participating volunteer dentist.
"Every dentist here is doing this on their own time and money because they want to help their fellow man," Lutes said. "We're happy to be here and thankful to Texarkana people for helping us put on this event for their community. We couldn't do this without community support."
Dr. Milburn Haynes is a local dentist involved in planning this event.
"It's a huge benefit for any community, because there are always people who can't get in to see a dentist. So many people can't afford it. It's expensive. There are people who really need it and are sacrificing every day because they can't get their teeth fixed," Haynes said.
In 2013, the dental clinic provided an estimated $386,575 in free dental care to residents in this area.
The dental clinic will continues today, but there are no appointments left. For information or to volunteer at future events, call Sara Harney at 512-448-2441, ext. 203.