Kathy Salisbury, director of development and marketing for nonprofit Dental Connections, told the Polk County Board of Supervisors that the organization's Smile Squad mobile unit provides preventive and restorative dental services to children who lack regular access to care. "My name is Kathy Salisbury, and I'm the director of development and marketing," Salisbury said while introducing the program and staff who operate the mobile unit.

Carly Ross, executive director, and Courtney Wolterman, director of program outreach, described the program's scale and school partnerships. Wolterman said the Smile Squad served more than 9,000 students across three programs this fiscal year, operates in 17 school districts, visits 61 schools with the mobile clinic and donated over $250,000 in dental care to uninsured students. At one large partner, Crestview Elementary in West Des Moines, the mobile clinic treated 90 enrolled students (76 of whom did not have insurance) and completed about 700 procedures over 16 clinic days.

"We are providing, like, say, a whole host of services all the way from preventative care, through restorative work," said Riley Cholula, a general dentist who works on the Smile Squad, describing care on the mobile unit. Cholula said the mobile operatories can handle exams, X-rays, fillings, crowns and extractions when needed, and that many children seen by the program otherwise would have no access to timely dental treatment.

Dental Connections traces its origin to a 1919 public-health effort and became solely focused on dental care over time; the organization adopted the Dental Connections name in 2017 and has been an agency of United Way since 1923. Salisbury told the board that the main clinic, located near the United Way building, has 17 patient rooms and serves more than 7,000 patients annually; the organization also sees roughly 150 dental-emergency patients per month.

Wolterman described school-based workflows and behavior-management limits on the mobile unit: the Smile Squad does not provide nitrous oxide, so in some cases behavior or anxiety can affect whether a child is a candidate for in-school treatment. She also stressed coordination with schools and with state programs in more rural partnerships; Dental Connections said it has begun a rural expansion into nine school districts and has conducted short pop-up clinics in Fort Dodge and Storm Lake.

The board thanked the presenters and scheduled a walk-through of the mobile unit following the presentation. Supervisors noted that the county has supported Dental Connections in the past through community development and community-betterment grants and expressed appreciation for the program's role meeting local oral-health needs. No board action or funding request was made at the meeting; the presentation served to inform supervisors and allow them to view the new mobile unit.