Brothers Mitch and Logan Abrams don’t have far to go to get their teeth cleaned. Students at Ann Arbor Open @ Mack, they’re among the more than 200 kids a year who are seen at the Washtenaw Children’s Dental Clinic, tucked away in two small rooms at the school near Mack’s swimming pool. Waiting for their cleaning, Mitch and Logan grab at a large picture book engagingly titled The Gross, Disgusting and Totally Cool Mouth Book with up-close pictures of food- or plaque-clogged teeth.
“Kids love that book,” says hygienist Tammy Kraeger, who’s run the clinic for a decade. The only paid employee, Kraeger not only cleans and takes X-rays but also tracks down dentists willing to do fillings without charge, either in their own offices or at Mack. Dad Mitch Abrams Sr. paid just $36 ($18 each) for the cleanings. A nursing assistant, he says, “We’re glad we discovered this.” Kraeger says the cost could easily have run $180 in a private practice. (The clinic is open to any child who qualifies for free school lunches.)
Besides modest patient fees, the sixty-year-old clinic receives funding from the United Way and groups like the Kiwanis club. Kraeger’s biggest challenge is expanding her list of fifteen to twenty volunteer dentists, several of whom help out year after year. She would especially love to draw in some orthodontists. “We have a long waiting list” of kids needing braces, she says, with only a handful of specialists willing to waive most or all of their fees.
