A dental clinic in Rochester that serves children from low-income families is celebrating the opening of a new location in a special way—with a ribbon-cutting ceremony using “thread” instead of traditional ribbons.
The nonprofit, Children’s Dental Care Services, has been operating for 19 years and has been committed to providing quality pediatric dental services to families in need. The clinic will hold a grand opening ceremony at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, in its new building in northwest Rochester.
“Our children deserve the best, and we want to give them the best,” said Executive Director Sarah Hayes Anderson of the symbolism of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Previously, the clinic had been operating out of a small room in the United Way building. “We only had one room,” Anderson recalled. But now, with the opening of the new location, the clinic has doubled its space and significantly increased its patient capacity to respond to the growing demand for pediatric dental services in the region.
“Reimbursement rates are so low that few clinics are willing to specialize in serving children from low-income families,” Anderson said. “Almost all of the families we serve rely on medical assistance or have no insurance at all. We do not accept private insurance and rely entirely on government grants and flexible fee schedules to operate.”
Today, 100% of the patients the clinic sees every day are medically disadvantaged. Despite the financial and policy challenges, Anderson is confident that the new facility will help them reach more children and continue to promote oral hygiene education.
“The uncertainty of the national medical environment makes us worry about whether children will still be able to get the care they deserve in the future,” she said. “The increase in uninsured rates will only exacerbate the problem, making it more difficult for clinics to operate and more difficult for children to receive care.”
The new clinic not only provides basic services such as cleaning and X-rays, but also has a comprehensive professional team, including administrative staff, hygienists, dental assistants and dentists, dedicated to providing continuous and comprehensive oral health protection for vulnerable children in the Rochester area.