Drill-Free Dentistry Now at Elica Health Centers

Needham, MA- Elica Health Centers (“Elica”) now offers dental patients reliably anesthesia-free, needle-free fillings and blood-free, suture-free soft tissue surgeries using the Solea® All-Tissue Dental Laser (Convergent Dental, Needham, MA). By integrating Solea into their dental practices, Elica is fulfilling their mission to provide high quality, affordable health care to underserved populations confronted with barriers to accessing care throughout the Sacramento area.

“Solea is an advanced dental laser that replaces the needle and drill for a host of dental treatments. In fact, most patients don’t need anesthesia for common procedures like fillings,” said Nina Tecson, DDS, Elica’s Dental Director. “Not only does Solea provide a better experience for our patients, but it allows our dentists to deliver better clinical outcomes and perform more treatments per patient visit. This means we can provide superior care and do it all in fewer appointments. Solea has also allowed us to expand our scope of dental services, allowing our dentists to treat more patients in our offices, instead of referring to specialists,” Tecson said.

Elica CEO Tatyana Bak noted that many Elica patients face transportation and scheduling challenges that can create disparities in access to care. Because Solea is reliably anesthesia-free, dentists do not have to inject anesthesia and wait for it to take effect, which saves time. Additionally, dentists can perform multi-quadrant dentistry, which means they can perform procedures in all areas of the mouth and complete more treatments in a single visit. Patients are able to take less time away from work and avoid traveling for follow-up appointments. And a bonus for patients: they can leave the practice and go back to work immediately without that uncomfortable, numb sensation.

Elica has integrated Solea in five locations to date. Maria Nunez-Ouji, DDS, a general dentist focused on treating children at Elica’s Cadillac Drive clinic, is particularly impressed with how Solea benefits her pediatric patients. “Many children come in nervous before they’ve even had their first dental visit because of what they’ve seen on TV or heard from adults. Solea enables us to treat multiple cavities on the same day, with no needles, no sound of the drill, and no numbness. Because the patient does not leave numb, they can return to school, camp, or even grab food immediately afterwards. These children will never need to feel anxious about the dentist again, and neither will their parents,” said Dr. Nunez-Ouji.

About Elica Health Centers
Elica Health Centers (http://www.elicahealth.org) offers quality integrated primary medical care, comprehensive dental/oral care, behavioral/mental healthcare and other healthcare services to tens of thousands of low-income patients annually in the Sacramento region—regardless of their ability to pay. Also, Elica’s mobile clinics and street medicine providers conduct health outreach to homeless people and other underserved populations while providing links to non-clinical social services. Elica has over 480 experienced, highly trained providers and staff who embody our mission of “Healing with Heart.” Follow Elica on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.