Fish For Teeth brings mobile dental clinic to Friday Harbor (and fish tacos)

||| FROM SANDY RABINOWITZ for FISH FOR TEETH |||

We at Fish for Teeth are excited to announce our January dental clinic: January 13 thru 16, at the Mullis Center on San Juan Island. Yes, four days! Fish For Teeth has received additional funding to sponsor a mobile dental van for four-day clinics on San Juan Island, four times a year.

Due to health precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the clinic will host half of the number of patients usually scheduled. Patients must be in need of urgent care, and no regular dental cleanings will be scheduled at this clinic. If all goes well, we will be able to see more patients each day later in the year, AND provide oral hygiene.

Patients are seen by appointment only. Pick up applications at the San Juan Island Family Resource Center or the county health department, or download them at www.fishforteeth.com. Submit applications to the San Juan County Health Department on Rhone Street. We have decided that the process goes more smoothly if we only keep applications for six months. So, if you completed an application at or after the October clinic, we still have it! If your last application was earlier than July, please submit a new application. Volunteers, not the county health department employees, determine scheduling a week before the clinic based on severity and space.

To raise funds for the van, Fish for Teeth volunteers usually sell fish tacos on the Friday of the clinics held in January, October and May.

Matt Marinkovich, a San Juan Island commercial fisherman, formed Fish For Teeth in 2007, after noticing a community need for affordable dental care. Fish For Teeth receives no federal funding and relies solely on donations, which are tax-deductible. For more information, visit www.fishforteeth.com or contact fishforteeth@rockisland.com.