John Beaver walked out of the dentist's office Monday with four rebuilt fillings, free of tooth pain for the first time in a year and free of what would normally be a $751 bill for his dental work.

Beaver, unemployed and living at the Cornerstone Rescue Mission, was one of about 30 people who got free dental care Monday, courtesy of Dr. Chad Carpenter and the staff at his Rapid City clinic.

"This is a great opportunity for somebody with no dental insurance," mumbled Beaver, 28, through a mouth still numb from Novocain. "I'm very thankful."

Relief from the pain of cavities, abscesses and other dental problems was the goal of the first collaboration between Carpenter's clinic and three Cornerstone facilities: the women and children's shelter, the family apartment complex and the main mission at 30 Main St.

"We've done a bunch of fillings and a lot of extractions," said Carpenter. One man needed seven severely decayed teeth pulled.

"All he wanted was the pain gone," the dentist said.

Dental hygienist Lisa Stradinger and the rest of the office staff spent the day checking teeth, doing cleanings, taking X-rays and educating patients like Kenneth Wounded Face about the need to avoid periodontal disease by brushing and flossing regularly. The dental office is usually closed on Mondays, but his six staff members all volunteered to come in without pay for the day, Carpenter said.

That didn't surprise Dr. Thomas Udager, a retired dentist who sold his practice to Carpenter. "It's pretty neat. It's a pretty nice vision they had for the community," Udager said. "There's so much need right now, and this is an effort to meet some of that need."

Adults who are homeless, facing financial problems or just down on their luck often forego visits to the dentist. And even people who are eligible for dental care through Indian Health Service or Medicaid can have trouble getting it because of long waiting lists, lack of providers or other barriers to service, Carpenter said. Many people are too overwhelmed by the process to bother applying for assistance, and their dental health suffers as a result, he said.

He and fellow Rapid City dentist Joe Kieffer hope to address more of those needs on an ongoing basis by establishing a dental clinic of some type at Cornerstone Mission someday. Plans for one are in the early stages of development, said Dave Udager, a supervisor at the mission. "We've been trying to get something going with dentistry. It's one of the hardest areas for us to get help for people."

In the meantime, Udager is grateful for the help Carpenter and his staff provided Monday.

"Oh, it's just been overwhelming. We've had a great response from people who needed this, and everybody who's come back from there has said he did a great job and took good care of them," Udager said.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com