Washington dentist hopes to reach new clients

Dr. Shawn Kerby opened Restoration Dental & Implant Center in January of this year, replacing the former clinic on Washington Street, Wiese Family Dental.

Since then, he’s been awfully busy. While Kerby works at another practice out of town two days a week, his three days in Washington draw clients from the former Wiese clinic, others who followed him from his last practice, and some whose nearby hometowns have no dental openings of their own.

He said he was proud of the clinic’s role in filling a community need, one that all too often goes unmet in Southeast Iowa.

“It’s the corner of the state that is the most underserved, I feel like,” he said. “Access to care is difficult in Southeast Iowa, no matter what population you are, just because of the lack of dental professionals here, and then some financial constraints … we have a lot of blue-collar workers.”

Kerby said he sincerely enjoyed the work. It helps to have a lifelong fascination with teeth, and to appreciate work where the problems take a different shape, and require different solutions, from one person to the next.

  Buy Photo

That’s not to say the job is easy.

Kerby generally works on a scale of millimeters, demanding a precise hand and a sharp eye. Mouths are often difficult to navigate with tools, working around a tongue, any number of slippery surfaces, plenty of dark corners, and occasional restlessness from patients who struggle to sit still.

A variety of interpersonal skills are required as well. Dentists must prepare their patients for worst-case scenarios before undergoing a procedure, diplomatically disclosing bad outcomes that typically don’t happen, but can make people deeply anxious.

Kerby often has to distract patients while working, using physiological techniques that trick their nerves out of a pain response.

“A lot of kids don’t even know I give them shots,” he said. “We have two separate nerve pathways. One is for pain, the other is for vibration and pressure … the one for pressure is actually myelinated, meaning they have insulation and it will travel to your brain faster than the pain response will. So if you can overload their brain with stimulation, you can minimize that pain response.”

Despite all the effort dentistry demands, Kerby said he looked forward to Mondays. The dentist said he found immense personal satisfaction in his career.

“I have a yearning to be of service,” he said. “That ability to help people be better, whether they’re in pain or preventing future problems. And then you add the cosmetic portion to it, where someone has really low self-esteem because of the appearance of their smile … each and every case: there’s a problem. How do I fix it. And then seeing the patient’s demeanor or self-esteem get so much better after it.”

  Buy Photo

While the Restoration Dental associate dentist (and only dentist) doesn’t own the clinic itself, he hopes to someday, in an effort to expand services to clients who might not otherwise get them.

Such patients can sometimes put dentists in a bind. Medicaid is not accepted in many dental clinics in Iowa, since it often reimburses providers at a rate lower than the cost to provide procedures, factoring in employee expenses, lab fees, and other costs of doing business. There are some options that can get Medicaid patients in the door, but they come on a case-by-case basis, often with several delays involved.

As an employee — not an owner — Kerby lacks the financial control to better help clients on Medicaid, or without dental coverage. While the clinic has some options to help those patients afford care, the money available to do so is limited each year.

“I have a soft spot for underserved populations,” Kerby said. “I grew up very poor, and … I see it as a need.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com