Summit Community Care Clinic provides free or low-cost dental care to low-income seniors through funding from the Colorado Low-Income Seniors Dental Health Program.
The state program allocates nearly $125,000 each year to the Care Clinic for reimbursement for care provided, allowing the clinic to treat qualified patients at little or no cost.
Seniors who meet income and insurance eligibility requirements can access a wide range of services, including oral exams, treatment planning, emergency treatment, preventative care, x-rays , partial and complete dentures, extraction of permanent teeth, fillings, periodontal treatments, soft tissues. treatments and sedation.
“Regular visits to dental hygiene contribute significantly to maintaining good oral health and play a crucial role in the early identification of systemic health problems, such as oral cancer. Aging often means taking more medications, which can lead to dry mouth and contribute to oral disease,” said Dr. Kelvin Ha, a dentist at Summit Community Care Clinic, in a clinic press release. .
The Care Clinic is one of only two dental providers in Summit County to accept the Senior Dental Program. Additionally, Care Clinic branch offices in Leadville (223 Harrison Ave.) and Fairplay (548 Front St.) are the exclusive providers of senior dental programs in these areas.
Patients may be required to pay a co-payment for some services, but additional support may be available from local partners.
To be eligible for this program, patients must be 60 years of age or older, have income at or below 250% of the most recently published federal poverty level, not be eligible for Medicaid or Medicare dental services, and not not have private dental insurance. .
