Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.4

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They come from mount
Pleasant, but they also make the trek
from the outer reaches of East Cooper:
McClellanville, Cainhoy, Cordesville,
Huger and elsewhere. They often come in
pain, both physical and emotional, arriving
near penniless with nowhere else to go.
And when they arrive at the East Cooper Community
Outreach Dental Clinic, Dr. Michael Cuenin, along with a
dedicated staff and a combination
of more than 50 dental students
and volunteer professionals, is ready and willing to help ease
their pain – free of charge.
ECCO, and the dental services it offers, were born out
of the devastation of Hurricane Hugo, when the entire
Carolina coast was aching. The first dental clinic was housed
in a hot, creaky, uncomfortable trailer.
“I still remember dipping X-rays,” said Leslie White,
an experienced and highly regarded dental assistant who
volunteered at the clinic in the 1990s and has been its
manager since 2009.
The trailer is history, and today the floors are covered in
porcelain tile provided by a donor. The equipment is essentially
state-of-the-art, including a panoramic X-ray machine.
“It looks like any other dentist office you would walk
into,” Dr. Cuenin said.
A periodontist by specialty, Dr. Cuenin spent 30 years
in the Army. At one time in charge of the Europe Regional
Dental Command, he retired as a full colonel. When he
arrived at ECCO in 2011, the veteran quickly received new
marching orders.
“Leslie told me to get to work,” Dr. Cuenin remembered.
In addition to his efforts at ECCO, Dr. Cuenin is a part-
time instructor at the James B. Edwards College of Dental
Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina,
which not only facilitates lines of communication for the
clinic but also allows him to keep an eye on ECCO patients
who are referred to the university. One such case was a
woman who until recently had an undiscovered tumor in
her jawbone.
Among the services offered at ECCO are East Cooper
Smiles, a daytime clinic for ECCO clients; an evening
emergency extraction clinic for South Carolina residents;
and My Sister’s Smile, a comprehensive dental program for
victims of domestic abuse, as well as those recovering from
drug and alcohol addictions.
At the same time, ECCO provides invaluable real-world
experience for fourth-year students and residents.
“Word has gotten around at the College of Dental
Medicine,” Dr. Cuenin said. “This has become a very
popular destination.”
There is certainly no shortage of patients. More than
2,300 of them were seen last year, and that work translated
into more than $800,000 in free dental care. To be eligible
for services at the clinic, patients can’t make more than twice
the poverty level, can’t carry dental insurance and can’t have
Medicaid benefits that include dental coverage.
“These are people who can’t go anywhere else,” Dr.
Cuenin said.
In many cases, dental deficiencies play a detrimental
role in other parts of their lives, impacting everything
from heart health to job prospects. Across the board, clinic
staffers speak passionately about a full mouth/body health
connection and about striving to not only address medical
issues but also to change underlying behaviors.
“We try to look at the whole person,” said Dr.
Cuenin, who along with White, hygienist Gina Davies
and receptionist Quionna Denmark, makes up the
clinic’s core staff.
The patients and their problems hit close to home for
White, a Mount Pleasant native and Wando High School
graduate, who last year received the South Carolina
Dental Association’s Special Recognition Award for her
work at ECCO.
“In private practice, you deal with patients who were
brought up understanding they needed to go to the dentist,
and they appreciate the care,” said White. “But here you
have many people who live in poverty and go a long time
with toothaches and other issues. And they’re surprised that
someone cares enough to work on their teeth at no cost.”
For Dr. Cuenin, the transition from decayed teeth to
bright smiles – and bright futures – is a source of deep
satisfaction.
“I think that’s why a lot of people are drawn to dentistry:
You can see something through from start to finish,” he said.
“It’s kind of fun.”
Easing Pain
The ECCO Dental Clinic
By daniel Brock