South Pike School District trustees voted against allowing Smiles To Go Mobile Dentistry to provide dental care to students, in a unanimous decision on Tuesday.
Trustees reluctantly made their decision, requesting after the vote that the owners of Smiles To Go continue trying to reach out to Magnolia dentists George H. Leggett and Bryan B. Martin, who are blocking their efforts.
Ashley Casey and her husband, dentist Lee D. Casey of Liberty, own Smiles To Go and spoke before the South Pike School Board on Tuesday with a report from their recent visit to Eva Gordon Lower Elementary School.
“We have reached out to Leggett and Martin about the form,” Ashley Casey said. “They did not say they had any problems with it.”
Board president Luke Lampton summarized the board’s position: “I commend you for the work you are doing. I’ve heard good results in the schools you have been to. But I’ve spoken with both local doctors, and they don’t want us to pass this. They feel it will adversely affect their businesses.”
The Caseys have taken their practice into Amite County Schools in an effort to provide preventive care, extractions and fill cavities. They are now moving into other counties, including Pike and Lincoln.
But Leggett and Martin have said they do not want the Caseys at South Pike, claiming their screenings would interfere with ongoing care and adversely affect their businesses by directing new patients to the Casey’s Liberty practice.
Ashley Casey has stated in previous presentations that their business targets children who are falling through the cracks, those who have never seen the dentist and those who do not have a dentist.
They provided the school board with a new parental consent form which states at the top that “treatment provided may affect the future benefits that the patient receives under private insurance, Medicaid or CHIPS.”
The Caseys approach each school with the consent forms and they encourage students who have seen a dentist before to return to that dentist.
The board asked to hear from superintendent Dr. Estes Taplin.
“I only want to say this, because I understand the local dentists and their business, but just know that anything that will benefit the children, well that really touches me,” he said.
Ashley Casey began her presentation Tuesday by holding up the photo of a rotten tooth found in a student at Eva Gordon.
“This is what is walking around the halls of South Pike,” she said. “This does not benefit anyone. There has been at least one patient that I’ve talked to who brought this very form to their dentist office because we had referred them there for their dental care.”
Board members also asked the Caseys if they had sought participation in the program from Magnolia dentists.
“Maybe you could reach out to them,” said trustee John Hilbert. “Maybe they want to be a part of the program themselves.”
“Not at any point have they asked how they can be a part of going out to the schools,” Ashley Casey responded.
Taplin encouraged the couple to try again and return to the board with a new plan.
“I think it would be such a benefit for the kids if Smiles To Go could team up with Leggett and Martin,” the superintendent said.
