CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Eastern Iowa Heath Center is expanding its dental clinic near 399 12th St SE because the nonprofit said it’s seeing an overwhelming demand for dental services, specifically for those on Medicaid.

Dr. Diana Jones, who is the chief dental officer for the Eastern Iowa Health Center, said dentists are less likely to cover patients on Medicaid because the rehabilitation from the federal program is smaller. She said this means patients are more likely to ignore problems then Those issues turn into more significant health risks.

“Waiting until the dam breaks is a bad way to address healthcare,” said Dr. Jones “We don’t wait for the catastrophe. We try to do preventive care. The whole goal for public health, the whole goal for health care is preventive care.”

She said the amount of emergency procedures she’s performing makes her frustrated because she can’t give a patient a complete level of care.

“It’s really hard to tell people I can’t do more than just this one thing,” Dr. Jones said. “So if you come in with this toothache and you look at the mouth and there’s this whole mess going on. I only have time for one thing.”

This new center, which is projected to open in Fall 2023, will offer 10 additional dental rooms. The Eastern Iowa Health Center said this will allow the nonprofit to increase the number of dental visits from 9,100 to 22,500. It also said the dental health center’ location, which is near other Eastern Iowa Health Center buildings, will allow it to direct people to other services like pediatrics, family medicine, women’s health, behavioral health and other social services.

Joe Lock, who is the President and CEO for the Eastern Iowa Health Center, said the facility will also have to hire more dentists to staff the center. He said there are four dentists, who are already interested in being hired.

The Delta Dental Foundation of Iowa, which is the charity arm of an insurance company, is one of the groups helping to build the facility with financial support. According to their website, the group gives grants worth more than $50,000 to support large infrastructure efforts. It also gives grants from $5,001 to $50,000 to projects from nonprofits trying to address oral and overall health inequities among other objectives.

Suzanne Heckenlaible, who is the group’s executive director, said it also works with the State of Iowa to create a loan repayment program to recruit and retain dentists in private practice settings in rural, underserved areas in Iowa. She said there’s a focus on equity, but there’s a need for oral care professionals across the state in private practice as well.

“From general dentistry to oral surgeons,” Heckenliable said. “You don’t have a lot of them in the state, right so how you build that over time is important.”

The Eastern Iowa Heath Center said their new facility is also made possible with support from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments revolving loan fund, Bankers Trust Bank, Primus Companies, and Henry Schein Dental.

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