Hearts That Care announces new dental clinic

LAWTON, Okla. (TNN) -Hearts that Care Volunteer Health Clinic has announced they'll be adding a dental clinic to their operation.

It’s called the Terry Bell Foundation Dental Clinic, and will offer free full service dental care for patients without insurance making less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

Kelli Elliott with Hearts that Care says she probably gets about 10 calls a week on average from people who need dental care.

“They had nowhere to go for that,” said Elliott. “And it just breaks my heart every time I have to tell them we don’t have dental. So we’re just so excited to be able to have this, and to be able to meet the needs of patients in our area.”

Dr. Todd Bridges is the Dental Director at the clinic. He says they’ll be able to offer full scale dental care.

“We have the ability to take teeth out,” said Dr. Bridges. “We have the ability to restore broken teeth if they can be restored. We have the ability for hygienists to come in and clean teeth for patients. So we have really a full comprehensive care clinic.”

They expect the first dental clinic to happen sometime in October when they get all the equipment. Elliot says the guidelines for the dental clinic, will be the same as the medical clinic.

“People who follow 200% poverty level according to federal guidelines, and people who have no insurance,” said Elliott. “We need current photo ID, and then the previous years tax return if they filed. If not, they can goto IRS.gov and request a transcript.”

Those who fall in those categories can get free dental care at the clinic.

Dr. Bridges says the new clinic cost about 250-thousand dollars. And thanks to the Terry Bell Trust, half of that cost was covered. Then partnerships with several other foundations have helped to fill in some of the gap. But according to Elliott, they still have some fundraising to do.

“We need operating costs,” said Elliott. “It costs money to run a clinic. We have to pay for medications, because we don’t charge our patients for medications. So yes, we could always use donations.”

The Medical Clinic will still be the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month. The Dental Clinic will be held on the fourth Thursday of every month.

For more information about the clinic, you can find Hearts that Care Volunteer Clinic on Facebook.

Copyright 2020 Texoma News Network. All rights reserved.