Letters are being sent to patients this week informing them that the Northwest Colorado Health Dental Clinic inside South Routt Medical Center in Oak Creek will close on Jan. 28, 2026. Dental services will be consolidated at the organization’s clinics in Steamboat Springs and Craig.
The closure follows a decision by South Routt Medical Center leadership to reclaim the space for expanded medical services. The dental clinic has operated inside the medical center since 2018.
“As South Routt Medical Center utilizes our space to grow and expand their medical services, we will need to close our Oak Creek Dental Clinic on Jan. 28, 2026,” Northwest Colorado Health said in a letter to patients. The organization thanked the medical center for its partnership and encouraged patients to continue care at its other locations.
Kathryn Schlatter, manager of the South Routt Health Service District, said a grant-funded expansion and renovation project is planned. The project will add 832 square feet of new space and renovate about 2,898 square feet of existing space, with completion expected in 2027. Final plans and approvals are still in the design phase.
Schlatter also said UCHealth Sports Medicine physical therapy services currently located in the medical center will relocate in April to the South Routt Community Center.
To offset the loss of the Oak Creek dental clinic, Northwest Colorado Health will expand use of its mobile Dental Bus to serve children at South Routt Elementary School in Yampa and at the combined middle and high school campus in Oak Creek.
The dental bus has been visiting South Routt schools one Wednesday per month since fall 2025, limited by a shortage of dental hygienists, said Suzi Mariano, the agency’s chief marketing and development officer. She said a newly hired school-based dental hygienist could allow one to two additional days per month at South Routt schools, depending on demand.
Northwest Colorado Health’s main dental clinic at 940 Central Park Drive in Steamboat Springs is open daily. When the Oak Creek clinic closes, more dental providers will be assigned there. The nonprofit operates the only dental practices in Routt and Moffat counties that accept Medicaid patients of all ages.
“We will have 37 additional appointment slots per week in Steamboat with the existing three chairs,” Mariano said, noting that capacity will increase further once a fourth chair is added. The Oak Creek clinic had 23 appointment slots per week.
Data from October showed 588 active patients had been seen at the Oak Creek dental clinic over the previous 18 months. Of those, 323 patients lived in Oak Creek, Phippsburg, Yampa or Toponas, and 230 had received care only at the Oak Creek location. Mariano said 161 of those patients were children who could be served through expanded school-based services.
Northwest Colorado Health urged patients not to delay care, warning that postponing treatment can lead to pain, infection, tooth decay or tooth loss.
The organization employs three full-time dentists — Kelsey Majors, Kevin Sullivan and Reanna Sullivan — along with two additional dentists who provide coverage as needed. Majors and Reanna Sullivan, who served the South Routt community for more than six years, will continue seeing patients at other Northwest Colorado Health locations.