For the past 30 years, Doorstep Health Services has provided nonprofit dental care to elderly, mentally and/or physically disabled and economically disadvantaged patients who live in long-term care settings in the greater Twin Cities metro area. We provide full-service, broad-spectrum care to patients where they live, transporting staff and equipment to a facility in need. Our service structure ensures patient confidentiality, comfort and safety, while minimizing the impact on facility staff and visitors.

We offer both Comprehensive Service and Preventative Service dentistry programs for long-term care sites.

The Comprehensive Service Dentistry Program

The program includes:

• Mobile Dental Services: Our dental team consists of a dentist, dental assistant and patient transporter. All of our staff are carefully screened and are caring, knowledgeable and reliable professionals. DHS staff bring equipment for full-service dental care to the patient’s facility and create a temporary treatment room in a private, comfortable space there. In addition to providing routine checkups, cleanings, x-rays and extractions, we have the capacity to provide specialty dental services to patients when we provide service at the facility.
• Patient Transportation: We provide a staff member to transport residents safely and efficiently to the room in which we are providing service, saving nursing home staff valuable time.
• Practice Management: We take care of all background paperwork, including scheduling patient care, verifying coverage through insurance and/or medical assistance, managing follow-up care, obtaining consent, communicating with patients’ families, and processing billing. These services are managed by On Call Clinicians, Inc.
• Special Denture Visits: Our denture dentist visits sites on a weekly basis to ensure that there is not a long wait for new or repaired dentures.
• Continuing Education: We offer continuing education for facility staff to assist with meeting oral hygiene requirements set by the state for long-term care facilities. In turn, this helps ensure that our patients’ oral hygiene is well cared for in our absence.

The Preventative Service Dentistry Program

This program is designed to meet the preventative care needs of patients who need it most. Preventative care reduces the risk of gum disease and other oral health problems, and promotes proper denture maintenance. This program provides expanded dental services to patients, thereby increasing an individual’s ability to care for their own oral hygiene and reducing the risk of infection, illness and pain. Sites are visited by one dentist or dental assistant, who provide treatment to patients in their individual rooms. Specific services include:

• Four visits each year by a dentist or dental assistant
• Consultations with the facility’s nurse about the patient’s dental health
• Patient and facility staff education on brushing habits, care of dentures, and potential oral health problems

To learn more about DHS’s dentistry programs and services, please contact us