DENTAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Updated January 2012

In addition to restorations (“filling of cavities”) and extractions, the FCCV is different from other dental clinics because we also provide expanded dental hygiene services. These are mostly completed in the daytime with dental hygiene students from the VCU School of Dentistry. However, the Free Clinic added several hundred more dental hygiene appointment slots starting in 2009 through a partnership with Central Virginia Community College (CVCC). It is strongly confirmed by the literature that a preventative service such as dental hygiene is an important facet of good overall dental care.

Importantly, the Free Clinic collaborates with the Lynchburg Dental Society, which provides over 65 volunteer dentists to serve either with direct services for patients or as mentors/professors to the students. Centra Health Inc provides free student housing and discounted meal plans in their facility. The Free Clinic has educational partnerships with the Virginia Commonwealth School of Dentistry, Howard University School of Dentistry, and with CVCC to provide many appointment slots for Central Virginia patients with student externs, who complete their rotations at the clinic.

The FCCV will accept Medicare and Medicaid patients in this program based on household income. The reason for this is two fold: 1) Medicare and Medicaid do not generally “cover” dental services in the Commonwealth of Virginia; and 2) There is only one other very small indigent care dental provider physically located in Central Virginia at this time. The need for dental assistance is far too great to exclude any of these persons from basic dental services.

The goals in the dental services area at the FCCV have been and are:

a) Continue to provide at least 5,000 appointment slots for basic dental services in the day and evening. This number (and more) has been accommodated since 2007 when the number of operatories (chairs) was increased from 3 to 6. This is the current maintenance goal for the immediate future years.
b) The Dental Clinic Partnership with Blue Ridge Medical Center (BRMC) in Nelson County at the Nelson Dental Clinic, which began in March 2008, has eliminated the need for 300-400 individual patients to make 600-800 visits into Lynchburg for dental services. They are now provided in Nelson County. It has also provided an opportunity to produce some sets of dentures for selected FCCV patients.
c) The building of the CVCC Dental Hygiene Lab and the “set up” the Dental Hygiene Program in partnership with CVCC was completed in August 2008. Unfortunately, it will end in May 2012, but the FCCV is looking at some other options.
d) Expanded dental hygiene appointment slots were possible beginning in calendar year 2009 with the addition of Central Virginia Community College externs. Advanced students are able provide actual services through May 2012.
e) Expanded dental appointment slots have been developed in the summer months.

There are NOT usually any patients on our waiting list for basic dental assistance. We are able to “work in” dental emergencies that we are capable of handling on an “as needed” basis. Usually, a patient in need of urgent care can be accommodated within a matter of days. We do have periods during the year (i.e. student school vacation periods) when the actual time to get a routine appointment “stretches out” to 4-5 weeks. We have reduced these waiting periods with the CVCC partnership for Dental Hygiene, the Blue Ridge Medical Clinic partnership for dental services, and NOW FULL summer services from VCU School of Dentistry and Howard University School of Dentistry students.

As indicated above, the Free Clinic can accommodate individuals into the program for urgent care, but it still needs more appointment slots in order to meet the full needs of the Central Virginia population and/or continue to expand the current specialty service offerings to patients. We continue to work toward this goal of an increased, broader capacity!

SUMMARY Dental Description (Word document)

V.C.U. SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY & FREE CLINIC OF CENTRAL VIRGINIA, INC. DAYTIME DENTAL PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP