Anderson County Commission approves expansion of dental clinic
If you’re an Anderson County resident without private dental insurance, there’s a dental clinic you can visit.
The Anderson County Commission approved $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funds to move and remodel the Anderson County Dental Clinic to a different place in the County Health Department building. The action took place at its meeting Sept. 18.
The county is also looking to hire a new hygienist. Revenues generated for the clinic by the hygienist will fund the salary. The County Commission in August approved a budget amendment for a $46,000 salary, plus benefits. The new hygienist in Clinton will do cleaning and scaling, while the dentists take care of other patients.
The clinic is in the Anderson County Health Department building at 710 North Main St., Suite C, between Health Department space and programs.
The remodeling will move it to the end of the same building. After the work, the Clinton location will have four operating spaces.
“The renovations will improve the safety and efficiency of the dental operations and will provide an extra exam room for treating patients,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said in an email.
“There is a lot of demand for treatment, and currently we have had to either turn patients away or book them far into the future. A hygienist will enable the program to treat more patients,” she said.
Clinic Director Art Miller said the current backup was due to TennCare starting to offer dental benefits for adults this year.
“These are patients who have probably not been to the dentist in many years,” he said. “Now that TennCare covers their dental care, they’re wanting to come see us.”
He said at present, the Clinton location sees about 20 to 24 patients per day, five days a week.
“If we can keep around 30 a day that would be great,” he said, regarding the capacity.
The Clinton location is open five days per week. An additional Oak Ridge location at 728 Emory Valley Road is open two days per month, one for restorative work and the other for extraction. The program has also gone into Clinton Elementary School doing dental exams, cleaning and X-rays and is looking to visit Oak Ridge Schools. The county schools have a different dental program for students.
“It’s too bad, but our schools have to take care of the kids many times and so we’re glad to be able to come in and help,” Miller said.
Two dentists split the week at the Clinton location, open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. One dentist works four days per week, and the other works one day per week.
“Once we get the hygienist on board, I would say we will greatly increase our numbers and especially our revenue,” he said, referring to revenue primarily from the TennCare program.
The clinic accepts TennCare and Cover Kids recipients but not people on private insurance.
“We never wanted to cause any issues with the private dental community,” Miller said explaining his reasoning. He said the county’s private dentists support Anderson County Dental Clinic and have volunteered at the Oak Ridge location, which depends on its volunteer dentists rather than hired ones. It usually sees six patients per month.
Miller said both locations depend on state grants to fund them.
To make an appointment at the Oak Ridge location call (865) 264-6356. To make an appointment at the Clinton location, call (865) 425-8803. You can find more information online at https://andersoncountytn.gov/anderson-county-dental-clinics/.
“They are lean and very efficient,” Anderson County Commissioner Denise Palmer said of the Anderson County Dental Clinic and its staff.
Due to accepting TennCare, Miller said TennCare recipients from other counties qualify, but Anderson County residents still have top priority after children.
