Visiting dentist to hold five-day clinic in Nondalton

Nondalton residents will have access to an in-person dentist for five days starting Monday, Sept. 21. Max Klingenstein, DMD, is scheduled to hold the clinic through Sept. 25, according to Southcentral Foundation event listings.

Dental hygienist Traci Martinson, RDH, is listed for a dental clinic in Tyonek, also Sept. 21 through 25. Physician Rebekah Briscoe, MD, is listed for primary care in Akutan. In Tyonek, Southcentral Foundation says dental providers reach the village twice a year, while primary care providers visit once every two months.

A 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health by Wetterhall, Burrus, Shugars and Bader argued that reliance on itinerant dentists left many villages without continuity of care. Alaska tribal health organizations responded, they wrote, by adopting the Dental Health Aide Therapist model, which trains mid-level practitioners to do limited restorative, surgical and preventive work.

Nondalton is one of six villages around Iliamna Lake whose clinics are staffed by one or two health aides. They feed into the Nilavena Regional Health Center at Iliamna, which has a two-chair dental suite.

The Nondalton Community Health Clinic normally operates Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and stays open through lunch. Its number is 907-294-2238; the after-hours and urgent line is 907-294-4077. Southcentral Foundation says the health center serves everyone regardless of Indian Health Service status, on a sliding fee scale set by household income and size.