Hyde Park dentist brings care, hope and smiles to Montana

Earlier this year, Hyde Park dentist Dr. Jane Mays packed up her dental supplies and traveled to a church near the Montana State University campus in Bozeman, Montana. There, she joined other volunteer dentists and dental hygienists who spent three and a half days providing much needed dental care to 180 patients, people from reservations and rural areas who lack the means and access to medical and dental care. 

The effort was known as the Outreach Mission Clinic operated by a small nonprofit, Smiles Across Montana (SAM). The clinic was the organization’s largest and most ambitious project to date. Established in 2018, SAM’s mission is to eliminate oral health disparities across the state. They operate mobile dental clinics that travel throughout Montana, visiting rural communities, schools, nursing homes, Head Start classrooms, WIC clinics, homeless shelters and anywhere they can provide much needed care. They also provide telehealth dental services.

How Mays found out about the SAM organization and how she ended up getting involved is a bittersweet story. In 2023 her daughter Natalie applied to several colleges out west and settled on Montana State University. She visited her daughter on campus in 2024. While she was there, the campus hosted a huge powwow, the largest in the entire state. People came from all over the state from reservations and rural communities. 

She and Natalie discussed the great need there for access to dental care. The American Dental Association lists Montana as one of three states known as “dental deserts.” Entire communities lack access to dental care. In rural communities in particular there are no dentists available for miles. 

Many Native American students whose families live on reservations are covered under Medicaid, but the university health services does not accept Medicaid for dental care. A student on Medicaid who needs the care must pay out of pocket, so often that care is just skipped. It was Mays’ daughter, concerned for her fellow students and their families, who suggested her mother should maybe return and volunteer her services. 

“There’s just a tremendous need there,” said Mays. “It’s a very rural state. I think it has the lowest population of probably all 50 states — more cows than people in Montana. And they’re so spread out. You will get providers in places like Bozeman and in the capital Helena and Billings, but if you go east where there are more reservation lands or up by Glacier, it’s extremely difficult to find providers anywhere near.”

Last summer, Mays’ daughter died. When she had to return to the campus to clean out her daughter’s locker, Mays met the executive director of SAM, Crystal Spring. She shared the reason for her return to the area, and Spring suggested they create a special dental clinic in memory of Mays’ daughter, and hold it just before the powwow so many people coming for the event could attend. 

The Outreach Mission Clinic

By all accounts, the Outreach Mission Clinic was a success. The volunteer team included six dentists, 15 dental hygienists, 3 instructors from Sheridan college and 15 hygiene students. Patients received both preventative and restorative dental care. They took home dental care supplies. Nursing students helped as well. The clinic also provided immunizations and even mental health screenings.

Here are some stats from the event

• 180 patients served
• 482 cavities were treated
• 77 cleanings were performed
• 47 deep cleanings done
• $140,000 in services provided 

The clinic had to be held off campus because they found out too late that the campus required event insurance. Next year they hope to hold the event on the campus itself.

While the church was a quick substitute, the space worked, thanks to the donated equipment and supplies provided to SAM.

“We had two huge rooms in the church, and there were…maybe 12 hygiene chairs, at least. And there were four doctor chairs with units they could hook into. So everything was mobile. We just needed a big room, lots of tables. I ended up taking all my dental supplies out with me in checked luggage, so I had everything I needed the whole time I was there. We had tons of donated supplies from dental supply companies, which was helpful. So we cobbled together an event for the first time,” Mays said.

The clinic saw a wide variety of patients of all ages. Many were Native Americans, and there were several people whose first language was Spanish. Fortunately, said Mays, they had volunteer interpreters on hand to help.

Mays said Crystal Spring’s vision for her organization is to be able to treat the whole patient with a broad range of services. The group’s goal includes providing access to some basic medical and to mental health services with therapists and mental health screenings in addition to dental care. In her book, health care is and should be integrated. 

Back home

Mays said she’s done some volunteer dentistry in Cincinnati but nothing quite like her experience in Montana. She is planning for next year, moving the clinic to campus and working to raise the profile of the event and the funds needed for the insurance, advertising and other needs. 

She’s working on her website and is designing a remembrance page for her daughter that will include a QR code so people can donate to support the effort. She said she knows once they learn about the situation, people will want to help if they can.

“I’ve been here in Hyde Park for 20 years, so a ton of my patients were interested and donated, the ones I saw and spoke with in the few months before the event. So I was thinking when I got back, it would be a good thing to publicize here,” she noted.

“I was at Anderson Hills United Methodist at a grief share there, and I was talking about this. Several women there said, you know, we do a lot of mission work overseas. It’s so nice to have the opportunity to support something here in the United States…They said that it felt really good to have different opportunities domestically.”

For those who would like to learn more or help support Dr. Mays’ effort, go to the website at janemaysdmd.com/natalieslegacy.

The next clinic will be the last week of March 2026, coinciding with the 50^th annual MSU Native American Powwow.