TRODENT COVER STORY (1 of 5)
CREATING HEALTHY HABITS
Ostrow’s new partnership with URM Angeles House offers dental care to families experiencing homelessness, including those with young children.
BY MICHELLE McCARTHY
FOR PARENTS WITHOUT HOUSING, the immediate priority is securing food, shelter, safety and warmth for their children.
As a result, dental care can often be neglected. It’s a dilemma Cassandra Cazaras unfortunately knows all too well. When the uncle that she and her three young children — ages 1, 3 and 10 — were living with passed away, they were left with nowhere to go.
Thankfully, a parishioner at Cazaras’ church told her about Union Rescue Mission’s Angeles House, a facility in the Willowbrook neighborhood of South L.A. that caters exclusively to unsheltered families.
Among other services, Angeles House provides dental care through a partnership with Ostrow. “It’s stressful during those times when you’re trying to figure out basic things,” Cazaras explains. “I made sure to maintain the kids’ doctors’ appointments, but I wasn’t able to make dental appointments for them when I should.”
USC has partnered with the Union Rescue Mission (URM) on Skid Row for more than 25 years, providing emergency and comprehensive dental services to those experiencing homelessness. URM’s new site, Angeles House, opened in 2022. “They approached us to offer dental services there as well,” says Mehdi Mohammadi DDS ’12, director of the USC+URM Dental Clinic. “They deal with a different demographic from the Skid Row clinic — women and school-going children. We thought it was important for USC to provide services to this population as well. We were able to secure funding to begin clinic operations one day a week, on Tuesdays, starting this past October.”
Developing Healthy Habits
Prior to her family’s stay at Angeles House, Cazaras’ 10-year-old son hadn’t visited a dentist in quite some time. “He was complaining about a toothache, and it turns out that he had a cavity,” she says. “My two younger children hadn’t been seen by a dentist at all until we were at Angeles House.”
Mohammadi says it is essential for children to receive dental care early in their lives because it can have negative consequences down the line, physically and psychologically. “It’s important for them to get proper dental treatment as they grow up so they can have a healthy mouth and a good smile. That will build confidence and have a direct impact on their overall health.”
But the positive impact doesn’t just affect families who are served at Angeles House. USC dental students are also gaining insight into their future professions — while developing empathy for community members who are experiencing life challenges.
“They get the opportunity to expand their knowledge and to provide services to the underserved,” Mohammadi shares. “Our students have found this experience invaluable. And many of them are seeking to go back to one of those community clinics for employment after graduation.”
That’s exactly what happened for Mohammadi, who worked at the Skid Row clinic as a student. “When I graduated from USC, I started working part-time in the clinic and eventually rose to become clinic director in 2013. This is rewarding and fulfilling work. It’s my life’s purpose now.”
Professional and Respectful
Since the dental clinic at Angeles House is currently only operating one day a week, it is not yet part of the mandatory curriculum for Ostrow students. For the time being, it is being staffed by student volunteers under the supervision of expert faculty members. But that will hopefully change in the near future. “Eventually when we have sufficient funding to run the clinic, Mondays through Fridays, our goal is to make it a part of the required rotation for students,” Mohammadi says.
Ostrow students are already helping to change lives at Angeles House, one family at a time. For the Cazaras family, the experience has improved their overall understanding of dental care. “We learned how to maintain our teeth better — brush as often as you can and for a certain amount of time, brush and floss after meals, and don’t let the food sit because that can cause tooth decay.”
After six months at Angeles House, things are looking up for Cazaras and her children. Now living with a friend, they are still obtaining dental services from Ostrow students at the facility. And she couldn’t be happier with the service they have all received. “From the beginning, the students and staff were very professional and respectful to me and my children. They didn’t ask any upsetting questions and only focused on our health. As a mother, it was such a blessing. I am forever grateful.”
INFANTS/YOUNG CHILDREN
Ages: 0-4
Treated at: URM Angeles House and various community sites
Fast facts:
▶ In Los Angeles County, nearly 50 percent of kindergartners have experienced tooth decay; nearly 20 percent have untreated decay, according to 2020 data.
▶ Infants should attend their first dental appointment upon the eruption of their first tooth and no later than their first birthday, according to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
▶ Healthy habits can be formed during early childhood, so it’s important to instill good oral healthcare practices as early as possible.