Low-Income Dental Clinic Opening in Champaign Next Year

A health clinic for low-income families in Champaign will soon have a permanent site for dental care.

More than $600,000 in donations to start the clinic are the result of an initiative that started in 2008. The United Way of Champaign County spearheaded the fundraising for a new facility at Frances Nelson Health Center. Nancy Greenwalt is the director of Smile Healthy, a community-based initiative to provide dental care to the underserved. Currently, Smile Healthy conducts mobile dental clinics twice a month at Frances Nelson.

Greenwalt said they exposed the need for additional care, and prompted donations from groups like the United Way, Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation and Carle Foundation. She said the waiting list of low-income and uninsured dental patients exceeds 1,000, and that does not include those who use emergency rooms.

"At Provena, over 1,000, and at Carle (Foundation Hospital in Urbana) over 2,000 patients report to the emergency room each year with dental issues," Greenwalt said. "But a medical provider can't do and extraction, or a root canal, or some of the treatments that you would need to solve the problem. All they can do is get you through the crisis."

Barbara Dunn is CEO of the Community Health Improvement Center, the parent organization of Frances Nelson. Dunn said the funds present new opportunities the clinic didn't have before.

"It's four operatories, so we can probably accomodate one half-time or full time dentist," Dunn said. "So we may expand that - who knows. And certainly always there's a demand for more medical. So I think we can put a lot of plans together the next few years."

The dental clinic at Frances Nelson will serve not only referrals, but appointments from the general public. It is expected to open by next fall.