Jayden “JJ” Wykoff nibbled on his teddy bear Bob’s ear Wednesday as he sat tilted back in a new, kid-sized dentist chair at Akron Children’s Hospital.
Eight-year-old JJ, who has autism, didn’t know what to expect so dental assistant Amber Hilliard went to work on Bob first. She slipped a white surgical mask — like the one she was wearing — over the bear’s mouth and then covered his well-loved brown fur with a dental bib.
“No ouchies, I promise,” Hilliard said, holding out her hand to JJ’s. “Pinkie swear.”
The Akron boy wrapped his pinkie finger around hers and repeated the no-ouchie pledge: “Pinkie swear.”
Akron Children’s on Wednesday opened a 6,300-square-foot pediatric dental center to fill the needs of local children who are poor or have special needs who often don’t receive oral health care, hospital officials said.
Nationally, only about 48 percent of children on Medicaid visited a dentist in 2013, according to the American Dental Association.
An Akron Children’s Community Health Needs Assessment the same year found that 15 percent of children in Summit County and nearly 18 percent of children in Stark County had never been examined by a dentist.
Shawn Lyden, Akron Children’s executive vice president, said some private dentists don’t accept Medicaid and there are not enough pediatric dentists to meet demand.
When hospital officials started talking about opening the clinic 18 months ago, they initially planned six treatment rooms. But when officials looked closely at the need, they expanded that to eight rooms, with the option to expand to 10, Lyden said.
The clinic — which is on the third floor of the hospital’s new Kay Jewelers Pavilion — is collaborating with Akron Children’s Locust Pediatric Care group, which cares for many children from Akron’s refugee communities and children with special needs.
Lyden said the clinic will likely handle about 6,000 patient visits per year.
About two-thirds of the patients likely will rely on Medicaid.
“The business plan does not show this breaking even,” Lyden said, “but it’s needed.”
Stephen and Celeste Myers — Stephen is a hospital board member and his wife, Celeste, has been involved with an Akron oral health initiative — have made a significant gift to create the dental clinic, hospital officials said. The Delta Dental Foundation and the Welty Family Foundation are also major donors.
On Wednesday, after a dental hygienist finished her work, JJ switched from holding Bob the teddy bear to Bob the Minion, a goofy, yellow cyclops character stowed away in JJ’s backpack with a Goodyear blimp on the front.
Dr. Jeffrey Berlin, a young dentist with hip, plastic-framed glasses and polka dot socks, walked into the exam room, shook JJ’s hand and noticed the sticker on JJ’s T-shirt — an Akron police officer’s badge.
“They let you be a policeman when you’re [8]?’’ Berlin asked, moving quickly to finish the exam before JJ lost patience.
While the staff distracted JJ by turning their rubber gloves into five-finger balloons with smiley faces, Berlin turned to JJ’s dad, Chris Wykoff, who had been holding his son’s hand.
“How did we do?” Berlin asked.
“Better. We never got this far into an exam before,” said Wykoff, who said he took JJ to two previous dentists without success.
Berlin, who was recruited to work at the new dental clinic, said one of JJ’s teeth was rotten and needed to be pulled. There was trouble with some others, too. But that could wait until another day when JJ’s family could bring him back. The clinic will fix JJ’s teeth and do an X-ray — something JJ refused Wednesday — while JJ is sedated, Berlin said.
“Tooth brushing is hit or miss with kids with autism,” Wykoff told Berlin.
“I get that,” Berlin said.
Many autistic and special needs children must take tiny steps toward tooth brushing, Berlin said, starting with holding a toothbrush to standing in front of a mirror and holding the brush near their mouths, to using a brush without paste, because even the gritty texture of toothpaste can be too much for sensitive children to bear.
“You have some bigger fish to fry,” Berlin told Wykoff, whose other son, 7-year-old Taylor, was waiting in another room with his mom for a dental exam. Like his big brother JJ, Taylor has autism.
“We’ve got this,” Berlin assured Wykoff. “We can take care of everything they need.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.