The goal of the St. David’s Dental Program is to provide free dental services to people who do not otherwise have access to care. During the school year, we primarily serve children through the local school districts. We also provide services to adults, mostly during the summer months, at local clinics and social service organizations.
Please click on a question below to learn more about our partnership with local agencies. If your question is not answered on this page, please contact the site coordinator.
1. How are partner agencies selected?
The dental program's goal is to provide services to people who otherwise do not have access to care. Here are some of the criteria we use in selecting a partner agency:
A commitment to provide services to disadvantaged populations and a screening process to determine eligibility for your services.
Your agency has patients who do not typically have access to dental care through public entities.
Your patients are not already seen by one of the school sites that our program visits.
Identify patients who need dental services and who do not have access to care.
Provide dental program staff with a list of patients needing care and their phone numbers.
Provide outside parking space for one or two mobile clinics.
Provide waiting area for patients and restroom facilities for patients and dental program staff.
**IMPORTANT : We rely on your eligibility criteria for screening patients. If a patient is treated on one of our mobile clinics while we are providing services to your agency, they must be eligible for services at your agency. This allows us to provide services to your patients without charging a fee. back to top
3. What are the Dental Program’s responsibilities?
Schedule and confirm patients, using phone numbers provided by the agency.
Secure signed consent forms from patients at the time of their visit.
Provide dentists and dental assistants.
When possible, provide a bilingual staff person to assist with moving patients from the agency waiting area to the mobile clinics.
Treat patients from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. After clinic hours, program staff will treat urgent care patients that may be agency or non-agency referrals.
Following the clinic, provide the agency with documentation on the patients treated and a list of no-shows. back to top
4. How does the process of setting up a visit work?
Before Clinic: Determine the best days for services.
3 Weeks Before Clinic: Hold a pre-clinic site visit.
One to Two Weeks Before Clinic: Dental Program receives a list of agency patients who have dental needs. Dental program staff set and confirm appointments.
During Clinic:
Dental Program secures consent forms from patients prior to treatment.
Program sees patients between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Patients with severe decay may need more than one appointment.
Review how clinic visit is going with the agency staff.
After Clinic: Dental Program provides the agency with documentation of patients treated and a list of no-shows.
5. What kind of dental treatments can the program provide?
The Dental Program can provide fillings, root canals, extractions, cleanings, and some urgent care. We CANNOT provide dentures, partials, bridges, crowns, braces, periodontal surgery, or wisdom tooth extraction. On occasion, we may be able to connect a patient who has serious needs with one of our volunteer dentists. Volunteer dentists are sometimes able to provide more extensive work at their offices.
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