Early birds show up for free dental care in Sun City

More than 150 people stood outside of Dr. Patrick Carr's office Saturday morning at Sun City Dental Care to receive free dental care.

The dentist and his staff provided emergency treatment for any person who needed it, ranging from fillings to root canals. Vicki Durfee, office manager for Carr, said people started arriving as early as 5 a.m. for the free clinic that lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"There were people sleeping on top of their cars and standing at our front doors when we first got here to open up," she said.

Durfee said Carr's full staff worked the day along with volunteers who helped with the long line outside the office.

Carr said he never had a free clinic before, but chose to because of the hard economic times.

"People who need help with dental care are vastly under served," he said. "Dental care is a basic need but expensive at the same time and many can't fit it into their budgets."

By the end of the day, Durfee said they expected to treat at least 100 people.

"We'll try to do as many people as possible, but I'm not surprised at all by the crowd because of the way the economy has been," Durfee said.

Maxine Boswell, a South Phoenix resident, waited in line at 6:15 a.m. with her mother, Dora Cheatham, who needed some dental work.

She found out about the clinic through an e-mail, so she decided to bring Cheatham to see Carr and the staff.

"My mom's tooth has been hurting for three weeks, and she doesn't have any dental insurance," said Boswell, who lives at Seventh and Dobbins avenues in Phoenix and drove 30 miles to wait in line. "It's well worth it because (Carr) is doing a great service to people."