Change Seniors' Lives With Your Gift!

With 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day—70% of them lacking dental insurance—poor oral health in seniors has reached crisis proportions, with low-income seniors faring even worse.

The mission of the Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center is to provide affordable, high-quality oral healthcare with comprehensive education, clinical, and wellness services for seniors in need, enabling them to live healthy, independent, and productive lives.

In June 2016, the Senior Dental Center was launched in Downtown San Diego with the support and collaboration of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, Serving Seniors, private and public agencies, and vulnerable seniors themselves. And in October 2019, a second clinic was opened to serve seniors in North County San Diego. To date, over 1,300 seniors have received the oral healthcare they need.

We continue to provide dental care combined with health and social support to our older adult patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to our in-person visits, here are new initiatives we put in place to further support our patients:

• Tele-health: Our senior patients are being supported at home and getting their questions and oral health needs met with our newly implemented tele-dentistry protocols and HIPAA compliant video conferencing tools to provide screenings, answer questions and provide referrals for dental, medical, social and mental health services.
• Patient Outreach: We are checking in on our patients by phone more frequently to make sure they are feeling safe, aren’t feeling anxious or lonely and that they are getting their health and social needs met.
• Care Kits: Many of our seniors who live by themselves are now receiving in-home meals from our partner, Serving Seniors. With those deliveries, we will supply care kits that include hand sanitizer and essential oral home care items to help control development of additional infection in their mouths and their environment.

We appreciate your support in helping us continue to care for our senior patients during this challenging time.

Thank you!

The Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Team