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Despite Freeze, Big Turnout For Free Dentistry

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

Hundreds of people waited overnight in freezing temperatures to receive free dental care.

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By KLINT LOWRY

The Suncoast News

Published: February 6, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Joe Petree and Dixie Buice knew the weather forecast when they decided to camp out overnight outside Monticciolo Sedation and Family Dentistry. They wanted to secure a place in line for the 2009 edition of Dentistry From the Heart, which took place Friday.

But as they figured it, staying outside overnight in the freezing cold was worth it if it meant getting the dental work they both need, at no cost.

"I had some work done about four months ago," Petree said. "It cost $1,500."

When you don't have dental insurance, that isn't something you can do very often, he said, no matter how badly you need it.

Petree and Buice weren't alone in deciding it was worth risking frostbite to get their teeth taken care of. When they arrived at the dental office around 10 p.m. Thursday, they said, there were already 170 people there ahead of them.

Most spent the night in the parking lot, like they did, Buice said. Many ran to stores to buy pup tents, while others made do with what they brought, she said.

"Last night, I got up," Buice said. "A man over there was in his sleeping bag. It had ice on it. It was covered with frost."

For the ninth straight year, ever since dentist Vincent Monticciolo created Dentistry From the Heart, people have camped overnight outside his office on Grand Boulevard near Trouble Creek Road.

Monticciolo started Dentistry From the Heart to address, and to publicize, the problem of the number of uninsured and underinsured people in this country.

Dentistry From the Heart became a national nonprofit organization in 2007, with free dental care events all over the country. The event at Monticciolo's office, however, remains the largest in the country.

Every year, on the Friday before Valentine's Day, the office provides free fillings, extractions and cleanings to the first 500 patients in line. Since 2001, more than $1 million in free dental care has been provided.

In recent years, even this amount of supply has been outweighed by the demand, and this year, it was more so than ever.

Inside the clinic, Amber Tutor was trying to help coordinate patient charts and maintain order as the first patients of the day lined the hallways.

"I really thought the weather would discourage them from coming," Tutor said.

According to Dentistry From the Heart's public relations director, Lindsey Nickle, that wasn't the case.

In fact, cold or rainy weather has never been enough to keep the crowds away, she said.

Even this year's hard freeze was apparently trumped by the even harsher economic conditions of the day. The turnout was bigger and the prime places in line were claimed earlier than ever before, Nickle said.

"This is the first year all 500 appointments were taken by 7 a.m.," she said.

Both the weather and the impact of the economic slowdown were anticipated this year, Nickle said. The office bought 166 blankets, which they distributed to the overnight campers, she said.

Once all the appointments were claimed, office personnel told people to wait until 11 a.m., when they would decide whether they could fit in a few more.

As Petree and Buice folded their tent, shortly after dawn, they attested to the demand. People had been showing up this morning, they said, walking up to the door, expecting to be allowed to cut in front of everyone else and then getting mad when they are told no.

"To see the things people will do," Buice said. "It's amazing."

Klint Lowry can be reached at (727) 815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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