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Accessibility and availability
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| Their [the DCMs] availability, they’re available, and I can only imagine, if there was something that they should be doing that they’re not doing, something that is not in their area, they could point you in the right direction. (Participant B, Group 5) |
| I guess availability more than anything, we can call [the DCM] and he answers the phone . . . and so often, you get a receptionist, and they have no clue who you are or what you need, and you have to wait to get an appointment. (Participant C, Group 1) |
| Yeah, [the DCM] always says call me, if anything is bothering you, give me a call. (Participant B, Group 3) |
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Knowledgeable about clients
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| I’m just saying that, but yeah, they are much more knowledgeable, more informed than just the regular helping staff. For one thing, AIDS has come to the forefront much more, and we’re getting a lot more specific care and in that regard, certainly I like the fact that they know what they’re talking about. Or that you feel as if they do, and you can talk to them about specifics. (Participant C, Group 5) |
| Okay, I’m living with HIV, that’s terrifying in [and] of itself. Now I have dental problems that can lead to other conditions, opportunistic infections, you name it, it can happen. And frightening things. You learn that you are more communicable with oral problems, and you’re not aware that maybe you can be sharing things you don’t want to share. So yeah, I will definitely say [they are] knowledgeable. (Participant A, Group 5) |
| I was taking some [HIV] medicine that gave me a dry mouth, and I told [the DCM], and he coordinated some products for me to have. They are over the counter, but he got me some samples, gave them to me. So I thought that was great. (Participant C, Group 1) |
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Knowledgeable about insurance
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| Also, I believe that [the DCM] understands under what insurance program you are on, what is available for you, because I was on MassHealth before, and then I had to get off of MassHealth, and so I was directed towards the SPNS program, and he took care of that immediately. There wasn’t any sort of gap, and there was no worry in my mind that I could continue to have care, so it was continued in the same manner, going from one insurance program to another. (Participant D, Group 1) |
| I think it’s just great that they have the knowledge of all the different programs that are around there that it would just be impossible for a regular person to do research and find them. She was able to find a way, a program that would pick it [cost of upper plate] up. And they made one out of metal instead of acrylic this time. And it feels better, it’s lighter, it’s thinner, I’ve had no problems now. (Participant B, Group 3) |
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Empathy
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| Oh, yeah, you’re definitely not going in as an outsider. You know that was a big fear. [Dentist name] is my second dentist in my entire life, and I have to believe my former dentist was very conservative, and I dreaded having to go in there with my positive diagnosis, because he had no go with that. I just felt that way. This way there are no problems, there’s not even a hint. (Participant B, Group 2) |
| He brings up the HIV thing without me . . . because half of the time it’s like okay, now where do I put this in here, do I need to put this in now, or is this the person I’m not supposed to talk to about this? And so he puts that right on the table and wipes that away right away so that you know, this is what we need to know. (Participant C, Group 4) |
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Access to care
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| I had a problem with one of my teeth, and he was the go-between with the doctor to kind of make sure that I was able to get right in, whereas if you were dealing with receptionists, oh, yeah, well, you know, next week we’ll be able to get in. Whereas he talked to me, and within a half hour he called me back to say, can you come in then? (Participant E, Group 5) |
| Oh, yeah, I had upper and lower dentures done. It got so bad that they had no choice but to take everything. At Ellen Jones, they wanted to take 2 teeth every month and a half or something like that, which was horrendous, so I just said the heck with that. And then as soon as [the DCM] set me up for an appointment they figured out how to get it all done like within 3 months. (Participant A, Group 2) |
| Just that little friendly reminder, hi, it’s time to come in again, that’s just a good thing I think. (Participant C, Group 2) |
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Providing comfort
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| He, I think, set me at ease, you know. I’m afraid of the dentist, I’m afraid of the pain the dentist inflicts sometimes, but I just thought that he, having first gone through that experience he made it comfortable . . . “don’t worry about it, you’re really going to like this.” (Participant B, Group 2) |
| He, you know, more than anything, it was a comfort feeling, he made me feel comfortable and informed me quite a bit. (Participant D, Group 4) |
| Are you kidding me, they talk to you. That was the reason I didn’t have dental work done. I had bad teeth as a kid, I didn’t want to go. I was scared to death, you know, or at the very least apprehensive about somebody. They talk you through it. They are so, so cool. Very, very understanding. I hate to say this. You know I’m 50 plus years old, but I was afraid to go to the dentist, okay? (Participant E, Group 5) |
