When the Children’s Smile Center first began providing dental services to Medicaid-eligible children in December of 2006, it was based in a 3,100 square-foot facility in Ozark. Now, almost 20 years later, the clinic has a new home; a 7,300 square-foot building located in Nixa, about three-and-a-half miles west of its original location. The clinic began seeing patients in the new location on Jan. 22.
The new building was designed to be aesthetically pleasing to the clinic’s patients. For example, inside the lobby, there are also some features that younger children find entertaining, including puzzles, games, and more. Jackie Barger, executive director of the Children’s Smile Center, said that the lobby was purposefully designed to appeal to the kids who come there.
“We tried to have a lobby that was going to be attractive and inviting for a wide range of folks,” he said. “The window seat is popular already and the kids, the little kids especially really like the interactive games here and it's a lot of fun for them. Our architects did a great job with designing the facility.”
The nine dental rooms are also an attractive aspect of the facility. Each dental room has a brightly colored wall with a box window and seat, which allows the patients an unobstructed view outdoors, as well providing natural light.
“Interior ceiling height was important when we designed it in terms of a sense of space,” Barger said, “but then (we) also (included) natural light and the use of color.”
Another feature of the clinic children enjoy is the No Cavity Club sign where kids can write their name after a successful checkup. The sign, Barger said, is a carryover from the old location.
“We had a big tooth painted on the wall as the ‘No Cavity Club.’” Barger said, “and kids could sign that. So, we did this with a glass. A local sign company helped us with it, and we can wipe that clean once every couple of weeks, and the kids really enjoy that.”
Kids who have a good checkup can also get to visit a special area in the clinic called the “Super Patient Station”, where they can get a prize as they exit the clinic. After their checkup, they are given a token, which they can put into a dispenser similar to a gumball machine. After they insert the token and turn a knob, a prize, such as a toy, comes out. Barger said that this gives kids another incentive to take care of their teeth.
“We tell them, ‘If you have a good appointment, you can get a prize,’” Barger said. “And kids get really excited about that. So, we have a lot of fun with it. The kids really enjoy it, and … (the) providing a token is encouragement and motivation for a good appointment. That always helps.”
Barger said that parents also love the new Children’s Smile Center because it provides a higher level of quality care than they expect. Because it is a non-profit facility that accepts Medicaid, he said, many parents don’t know that they will receive the quality of care that the clinic provides. He recounted one time when he offered one patient’s mother a tour of the building.
“This one mom was thrilled,” he said, “and she said, ‘You know, a lot of people … expect services and facilities to be less than. And what you do is provide more than.’
“We exceed people's expectations. They don't expect it to be a nice place. I had a comment … from someone that said, ‘This quality of a facility says that you treat people with dignity, and that you care about the people that you serve, that you provide dental care for.’ We want this to be a regular dental experience, not a welfare dental experience.”
Barger added that he regularly educates people about what they can expect at the Children’s Smile Center.
“So many people assume,” he said, “and it still happens today, that if I tell them I work for a large nonprofit that provides dental care to families whose kids are covered by Medicaid, they immediate assumption is ‘Oh, do you have a mobile unit?’ No. Why would we have a mobile unit?
“’Oh, you have retired volunteers?’ No. We're a regular dental experience. It's all paid staff that work here; a full range of dentists, hygienists, assistants, (and) front desk staff that are all trained to work in a dental office. And there's lots of folks that work in dental offices in Southwest Missouri, but very few have the mission that we do to provide access to kids to improve their oral health and wellness. And that, so it's a lot more than just coming to work for a dental office. You're coming to work for a dental office that makes a difference for kids. We're real proud of that fact.”
For more information about the Children’s Smile Center, go online to their website at https://www.smilecentermo.org or call (417)582-5439. The new Children’s Smile Center is located at 112 S. Ridgecrest Ave. in Nixa.
