A waiting list of uninsured Cambria County people in desperate need of dental care is now approaching 500 people. Though there is funding to help those people, there are no dentists to perform the work.

The Johnstown Free Medical Clinic received grant money from Lee Initiatives in April to set up a Mobile Dental Unite to help county residents, but the unit has yet to mobilize because there is no one to man it.

Cathy Kist of the clinic said, "We compiled a list of about 100 dentists in the area and started calling them. Of the first 25 percent, we got 'Nos' to helping up address this problem."

The dental issues are not simple hygiene matters. Those in need are people with rotted teeth, abscesses and serious pain. Kist said the patients need help right away, and workers will keep calling dentists.

"It's become a crisis. When you thing about 500 people with severe dental needs and no dentists to take care of these people, what are we going to do?"

Currently, the clinic has one dentist who is pitching in. In the last 1 1/2 years, Dr. John Ridella has helped dozens of patients without insurance.

Ridella said, "In the course of a day, we have one patient (without insurance) in here in the office. The regular patients don't know. They're regular people in the community that have just fallen on hard times."

By getting to the root of the problems and taking care of the patients' pain and improving their aesthetics, he said it helps the patients overall health and daily work. In response, he is urging his fellow dentists to step up.

"It's a principle that's as old as mankind. In order to get, you have to give," he said.

For more information, call the clinic at 534-6242.