The Western Tidewater Free Clinic has doubled the number of dental patients it can see at one time. 

The clinic officially opened its 1,000-square-foot dental care expansion this week, adding two new dental exam chairs to its facility. It also added a new behavioral health room where telehealth services will be available to patients.

“The need for more dental services as well as behavioral health has grown and we’re so happy we can do more to meet this need,” clinic director Ashley Greene said in a statement.

The clinic serves residents of Isle of Wight, Surry, Sussex and Southampton counties and the cities of Suffolk and Franklin. To qualify for care at the clinic, patients must be uninsured, ineligible for Medicare or VA benefits and make under a certain amount of money.

The clinic serves around 700 dental patients a year. Clinic leaders hope to increase that to 900 now that they have more space.

Greene told WHRO last year that demand for dental care was rising. The clinic hired its first full-time dentist in August 2022. Before that, it relied on one part-time dentist, local dentists donating their time and Old Dominion University dental students.

In 2022, Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services reported to the General Assembly that only 26.9% of Virginia’s dentists treated Medicaid-covered patients.

Until 2022, dentists who took Medicaid patients were reimbursed at the same rate since 2005.

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