CNCC program offers dental clinic July 9-10

RANGELY — A visiting dentist will treat local patients as part of a collaborative effort between Colorado Northwestern Community College’s dental hygiene program and the Northwest Dental Coalition.
The clinic will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 9 and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 10, at the dental hygiene program’s facilities in the Blakeslee Building on the CNCC campus in Rangely.
“We’ve been working on this for a couple of years,” Mark Patterson, director of CNCC’s dental hygiene program, said of the two-day clinic. “The purpose is to make dental work affordable to low income, Medicare, Medicaid, the uninsured, those sorts of patients.”
Dental services will be offered at a reduced rate, depending on income qualifications.
“The services will be done on a sliding scale,” Patterson said. “We can qualify people if they come by the dental hygiene clinic in Rangely, or go by the county health nurse office in Rangely or Meeker. They can pick up an application form to see what their fee schedule will be.
“Services include fillings, extractions, root canals, that sort of thing,” Patterson added. “The restorative work we can’t do at the dental hygiene program. All of the work will be done by a licensed dentist, and students from our dental hygiene program will be assisting, and they’ll be using the facilities at the college.”
Depending on demand, Patterson said the clinic could turn into a regular event.
“We’re going to see what the demand is,” Patterson said. “This could be as few as a couple of times a semester, or as much as a monthly thing. It just depends on the demand. But this is something that has been sorely needed.”
For information about the clinic, contact Kathy LaNoue with the CNCC dental hygiene program at 675-3250, or contact the county health office in Rangely (675-9525) or Meeker (878-9520).