Health department extending dental clinic hours | News

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19)- Starting next month, Cincinnati Health Department dental clinics are expanding hours.

Patients will now be able to receive emergency dental care in the evenings and on weekends.

Each weekday, patients line up in the middle of the night, in pain, outside of CHD clinics after having been to the emergency room for dental problems.

This is no surprise. According to the Ohio Department of Health, access to dental services is the leading unmet health need for children and low-income adults in Ohio.

The CHD dental clinics will be adding 40 hours of service each week, allowing for thousands of additional patients to be seen annually, to address this growing problem.

"Expanding the hours of the dental clinics will not only ensure that patients receive timely care and quality care," said Nancy Carter, CHD's Dental Director, "patients who are under or uninsured won't have to rely on the emergency room to receive dental care."

Last year, Kyle Willis, the nephew of famed musician Bootsy Collins passed away, unexpectedly as a result of untreated dental problems because he could not afford a prescribed antibiotic.

The Bootsy Collins Foundation and the Willis Family have since helped raise awareness, including advocating for extended dental services at CHD dental clinics.

Millvale                                

Monday          9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tues - Fri        8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday        8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Elm Street                         

Mon - Thurs    7 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Friday             7 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Price Hill                            

Mon - Thurs    7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Friday             7:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Crest Smiles Shoppe       

Mon - Fri         8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Northside                            

Mondays        9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tues - Fri        8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Annually, The City of Cincinnati's five Primary Care Health Centers and Crest Smile Shoppe Dental Clinic see over 10,000 dental patients, perform 24,000 dental encounters and 7,000 emergency dental visits.

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