CHC expands dental services

The Lincoln County Community Health Center is expanding to offer full-time dental services.

With the recent award of a $150,000 per year renewable grant, the CHC is starting a dedicated dental clinic in the former Northwest Montana Human Resources building at the corner of Sixth Street and Montana Avenue with a projected opening date of Dec. 13.

The new dental clinic is the culmination of a three-year process that started with a volunteer dentist at the CHC on a limited basis, then expanded to two contracted dentists on a limited bases and then to the hiring this summer of Dr. Jim Greiner, who began offering dental services two days a week in late July.

The CHC received a donation of a dental chair from a dental distributor and donated instruments from local dentists. In the new facility, the CHC will have three chairs.

The dentist will be available four days a week, and the hygienist will be available five days a week.

The CHC currently averages 84 dentist visits and 54 hygienist visits per month. That is expected to rise to 172 dentist visits and 110 hygienist visits in the new clinic.

Services to be offered will include composite fillings, extractions and sealants along with routine exams and cleanings. Services that won¹t be available include root canals, crown and bridge work, orthodontics, cosmetics and oral surgery.

The CHC accepts all private insurance as well as Medicaid and uninsured patients. A sliding fee scale is based on income and household size and applies to deductibles and co-payments for those with insurance.

The CHC also offers services two days a week in Troy and one day a week in Eureka and is looking into the future expansion of dental services in those communities as well.

For more information, the CHC can be reached at 293-3755.