Father Joe’s Villages, San Diego’s largest homeless service agency, recently received a $150,000 grant from the Delta Dental Community Care Foundation.
The funds will be used to expand dental care services, especially dentures and related treatments for elderly homeless people.
“This grant is an important step in our efforts to provide high-quality dental care to vulnerable populations,” said Dr. Meghan Pach, the agency’s chief health officer.
Partners like Delta Dental enable us to provide the health services they need to those who cannot afford it.”
Father Joe’s Villages Dental Clinic is located in the organization’s health center at 16th Street and Empire Avenue in the East Village.
Prior to the grant announcement, the clinic provided basic dental services to hundreds of homeless people each year, including cleanings, fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, and partial or full dentures. The clinic also has walk-in clinics, and most emergency patients can be treated on the same day.
In addition to dental services, the health center also provides primary care, mental health, behavioral health support, and outpatient substance use disorder treatment to the community.
Father Joe Village pointed out in a statement that homeless people face serious untreated dental problems and their incidence of oral diseases is much higher than that of the general population.
Lack of dental care not only causes them pain, but also affects their ability to eat and work, which in turn leads to a series of chronic health problems.
The Delta Dental Community Care Foundation is the charitable branch of Delta Dental in California and its affiliates. Since 2011, it has allocated more than $150 million to improve access to dental care and support scientific research in 15 states and Washington, D.C.