BILLINGS — Finding affordable healthcare is not always easy, and that includes dental work. For now, Montana's only dental residency program, and its newest resident, is looking to change that.
Dr. Eduardo Simo-Miranda came to Billings last week hoping to provide care for patients who may not otherwise have access to dental work.
Learn more about how dental residency programs assist rural and underserved populations below:
Serving all people is a common passion among healthcare workers at RiverStone Health in Billings.
"I always had this urge of helping people. So I feel that everyone in this world deserves care," said Simo-Miranda on Thursday.
Simo-Miranda just began his dental residency program at RiverStone Health in early July. He's a part of the Advance Education in General Dentistry Program, which is a national program, with its headquarters at NYU-Langone Health in New York.
"I've... enjoyed pretty much every aspect of it. The clinic's a wonderful place to be with," said Simo-Miranda.
The NYU-Langone Health program has training sites in 30 states across the nation, including at RiverStone Health. The dental residency program in Billings is the only one of its kind in the state.
Simo-Miranda decided to move to Montana because of its underserved populations in rural communities. He attended dental school in Ohio, but he is originally from Puerto Rico. A native Spanish speaker, Simo-Miranda said he also hopes to help patients who may not be able to speak English receive accessible dental care.
"If anybody needs, or is afraid of receiving care because they cannot speak the language or feel comfortable, I'm here to help," he said.
The residency program is a general-dentistry program, meaning Simo-Miranda will learn skills from many dental specialties. He told MTN he's mostly interested in pursuing endodontistry, but he is excited to learn all skills at RiverStone Health.
"I just want to grow in every aspect of dentistry," he said.
Simo-Miranda has wanted to become a dentist since he was a child. He told MTN that when he was a kid, he broke his two front teeth twice (baby and adult teeth). He said the dental work he received inspired him to provide others the same type of care.
"I told myself that I wanted to pursue it and do what the dentists back then did for me to fix my smile," he said.
While Simo-Miranda has only been a resident for a short amount of time, he said he's enjoyed every aspect of it.
"It feels like home here," he said.
The residency program is directed by Dr. Josephine Verlanic, who's also the dental director at RiverStone Health.
On Thursday, Verlanic said it's helpful to have residents at the office as they always bring excitement and enthusiasm.
"He's excited about dentistry and doing lots of procedures and meeting new patients," she said.
According to Verlanic, residency programs aren't required for general dentists in most states. For doctors who do pursue residency programs, it could be to gain more experience in a specialty or to provide care for patients who may not have access to dental healthcare.
"You can get more training. You can work on becoming more efficient," she said.
Similar to Simo-Miranda, Verlanic chose to work at RiverStone Health because, as a community health center, it assists patients on Medicaid, has a sliding fee discount for patients based on family size or income, and accepts all patients regardless of insurance or socioeconomic status.
"That's one of the reasons that I'm in community health dentistry, is to provide dental care to the underserved, and to be a safety net clinic to those in need," she said.
Because of Simo-Miranda's interest in coming to Montana, RiverStone now has an additional doctor who can provide care to those patients.
"Helping dental residents, dental students... enjoy working in community health centers too, and feel that passion in community health dentistry is one of the reasons I work here," said Verlanic.
To learn more about the Advanced Education in General Dentistry at RiverStone Health, click this link.
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