The sounds of suction and other dental tools drone in the background as Joseph Kunchik, chief dental officer for Lorain County Health and Dentistry, examines 20-year-old Jesus Cruz. Cruz is in pain after delaying dental care because he could not afford it.
“I stayed up at nights crying because of this,” Cruz said. “And then eating, I’m not able to use the whole left side of my mouth.”
Lorain County Health and Dentistry is a nonprofit that provides affordable oral care in a county that is considered an oral health desert — or “dental health professional shortage area,” according to a 2024 report by the Ohio Department of Health. That means there is an “insufficient number of dentists for the population of the county,” the report said. Thirteen other Northeast Ohio counties were named in the report…