Safety-net dental clinics.

Background: Federal policy supports and funds community-based clinics to provide health care to low-income and underserved groups. This study examines the role of community dental safety-net clinics in providing dental care for these populations.

Methods: The authors administered a cross-sectional survey of all identified safety-net dental clinics in Illinois. Seventy-one of 94 clinics responded (response rate, 76 percent), describing their history, operations, patients, staffing and dentist relationships. An in-depth analysis of 57 clinics presents comparisons of three categories of clinics, sponsored by community health centers (23), local health departments (21) and private services agencies (13).

Results: Clinics were distributed across the state; 80 percent were located in facilities with other health care providers, and all provided dental care to low-income and other underserved groups. Clinics provided more than 3100 annual dental visits, operated with limited staffing and budgets, and had referral relationships with local dentists. Clinics with full-time dentists or any dental hygienists had higher annual numbers of dental visits.

Conclusions: These clinics provide dental care to groups with traditional access barriers. Although they represent a small portion of all dental care, their mission and role make them a key component of strategies to address the dental access problem.

Practice Implications: Local and state dental practitioners and coalitions seeking to expand dental access should consider their community dental safety-net clinics as partners. Efforts to expand theese clinics should include considering optimizing staffing for better dental productivity.