SUFFOLK, Va. - A ribbon-cutting was held Tuesday at Western Tidewater Free Clinic to celebrate the expansion of their dental clinic, giving more people in need access to free and affordable care.
With an ever-growing wait list, sometimes months-long, director Ashley Greene told News 3 it was time for an upgrade. They started serving patients in the new clinic space in December.
“We’ve already seen a 9 percent increase in patients served from the same time the year before," said Greene. "I find that to be a very compelling number because it talks to you about the need and it also tells you about the capacity we now have that we did not have before.”
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The new suite now has four dental chairs instead of two, and it will give them the opportunity to serve at least 200 more patients in the first year.
“We physically didn’t have anywhere to put people before but now that we have extra space it’s easier to work people in,” said Dr. Fallon Berger, a dentist at the clinic.
She said this will better allow them to stay on top of preventative care, which expands to someone's overall health as well.
“We don’t want to just see them when it’s an emergency or after they’ve been to the ER three times, we want to be that dental home where we can focus on prevention and keeping them healthy, rather than just treating the issues as they come up,” said Berger.
The clinic now has a full time dental team and also provides medical, pharmacy and mental health services all for little to no cost.
