Filling a need
Dr. Diana Zschaschel, left, and her assistant Ada Palacios treat 13-year-old Vergery Grubbs Jr., who has cerebral palsy, as his father, Vergery Grubbs Sr., watches. Zschaschel accepts patients with disabilities, who many dentists won’t treat. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Paul Perez, left, has been bringing his grandson, Paul Reyes, 21, to Zschaschel’s office from Victorville for the last year for fillings and cleanings. Reyes survived leukemia at 15, but a reaction to chemotherapy robbed him of motor and mental skills. Finding dentists to care for patients with disabilities is a challenge because few are trained to treat such patients and a dwindling number accepts those with Denti-Cal. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Zschaschel cleans Reyes’ teeth. Im kind of the last-resort dentist, she said. There are very few private dentists who will take on this kind of work. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
Zschaschel greets patient Francisco Brizuela in the lobby of her Fairfax Village office. She is inspired take on these patients because of the example set by her late mother, a Cuban immigrant with a strong religious faith whom Zschaschel, by age 3, accompanied to feed the homeless. (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
