The clinic first opened its doors in 2008.
Its services have remained the same over the years, said Stephanie Waller, clinic executive director since fall 2018.
“We specialize in routine and emergency examinations, hygiene, extractions, rotary endodontics, amalgam and composite restorations, dentures, partials and crowns,” she said.
The demand for services continues to grow as many dental offices in the area are not accepting new patients and many have decided to stop accepting state insurances, which leaves a great deal of Miami County residents with our office as their only option for dental care,” Waller said.
The result over the past year or so has been an overwhelming demand, she said. The office now has a waiting period of more than one year for new patients to be seen.
Forty-eight percent of the patients seen are uninsured and utilize the clinic sliding-scale fee schedule.
Waller said these patients qualify for an adjusted rate based on the federal poverty guidelines accessed by income level and family size.
“The majority of these patients pay 40% of their treatment cost, and we see a low rate of reimbursement from our patients that are covered by state-assisted insurances, therefore we must seek outside sources of funding,” Waller explained.
The funding comes from foundations, corporations and private donors to sustain the clinic and to be able to continue to provide the level of dental care that patients have come to expect at an affordable cost, she said.
The dental clinic has a staff of nine and three part-time dentists. It also hosts fourth-year dental students from The Ohio University with 114 students participating in 2022.
The clinic also has a Traveling Smiles outreach to provide preventative and restorative dental care for qualifying children in a school setting. In summer 2022, it also set up clinics at Troy’s Lincoln Community Center and Piqua’s Compassion Network to see children who didn’t have the opportunity to participate in Traveling Smiles.
The dental clinic has a new fundraiser, partnering with local candle company Ember & Beam to create custom candles for clinic supporters. With each purchase of a candle, a portion of the proceeds are donated to the clinic. For more details visit, The Miami County Dental Clinic – Ember & Beam | Coconut Wax Candles (emberandbeam.com)
More information on the clinic and its services is available at http://www.miamicountydental.org.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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