MUKILTEO — Dr. Sarah Fraker is proving that a smile can be lifesaving.
The second-generation dentist and Mukilteo resident is one of 40 volunteer dentists participating in the Access to Dental program, which partners with the Northwest Kidney Center.
To receive a kidney transplant, patients must be infection-free, including oral disease. Fraker and her colleagues donate dental care to low-income individuals who otherwise might not receive medical clearance for a transplant.
“We are changing people’s lives for the better and sometimes literally helping to save them,” Fraker says.
Treating the underprivileged has always been an interest for Fraker.
Since she was 13 years old, Fraker worked in her father’s dental office where he treated Department of Social and Health Services patients who needed subsidized care. Later, as a dental school student at the University of Washington, she did a hospital residency treating medically compromised patients.
“I’ve always had the mindset that I should be using my skills to help provide for people,” she says.
The Access to Dental program was founded in November 2009 by the Seattle-King County Dental Society and as a former society president herself, Fraker volunteered with the hope of inspiring other dentists.
“The program is streamlined to make it easy to participate,” says Fraker.
A Northwest Kidney social worker screens candidates, volunteers match patients to dentists and a care plan is created in advance.
“It’s a team approach,” says Fraker, who estimates that she spends 10 hours per patient in addition to oral surgeons and specialists.
Since the program began, 47 patients have received $120,000 worth of dental care. “None of this is subsidized,” says Jennifer Freimund, executive director of Seattle-King County Dental Society. “Our dentists provide the labor and the Northwest Kidney Center covers the parts (such as dentures).”
The results make it all worthwhile for Fraker. Two patients have received kidney transplants after participating in the program. Laurence Gouveia was on dialysis for two years and received his transplant only weeks after Fraker treated him in 2010.
“It was exciting to see how we were an integral part of the process,” says Fraker, who fitted Gouveia with a bridge. Previously afraid of dentists, Gouveia has high praise for Fraker. “God bless her and these professionals who lend their skills and time to help people like me,” Gouveia says.
With state budget cuts reducing dental coverage for low-income patients, Fraker plans to keep busy volunteering with the Access to Dental program and continuing her father’s legacy of treating DSHS patients.
“We have relationships with these patients and we plan to keep serving them,” Fraker says.
The results speak for themselves. “Thanks to Dr. Fraker, I’m finally smiling again,” Gouveia says.
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