Community Dental Clinics | 2024 impact

||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||

San Juan County Health & Community Services is excited to share the 2024 Community Dental Clinics End of Year Report. The Community Dental Clinics began a new chapter in 2024 with committed partnerships from community organizations to develop a new model for access to dental care for islanders in need.  

Community Dental Clinics serve people on Medicaid or those who do not have dental insurance and cannot afford dental care. If you would like an appointment, please fill out the online application here. You will be contacted directly for scheduling. If you apply, but do not receive a call, your application will be held and considered for the next appointment when it becomes available.  

Responding to the Community 

San Juan County has the lowest rate of Medicaid utilization in Washington state for all ages (21%) and only 9% of adults on Medicaid were able to use their dental benefit in 2022. Before the Community Dental Clinics began, only one dental provider in the county accepted Medicaid patients until they were 8 years old. There were no dentists accepting adults on Medicaid.  

Thanks to committed partnerships and funding supports from community organizations, the Dental Clinic project expanded in 2024 with a portable bimonthly clinic on Orcas and a quarterly 8-operatory dental clinic on San Juan Island. These clinics are free to patients and serve people on Medicaid or people who are uninsured and cannot afford dental care. The Community Dental Clinics are now billing Medicaid, seeing pediatric and adult patients, and can receive donations to help offset some of the costs for people who are uninsured.  

Impact in 2024 

In 2024 there were 44 Community Dental Clinics: 40 on Orcas Island and 4 on San Juan Island. There were a total of 524 appointments with 258 unique patients seen. Comprehensive dental services were provided by dentists and oral hygienists – even teledentistry appointments to expedite people into care. An estimated $274,216 worth of dental care was provided at these clinics!  

What’s Next 

In 2025 Community Dental Clinics will continue! So far 105 clinics have been finalized and posted. Orcas has moved from a mobile dental clinic into a permanent dental clinic location operating every Tuesday and every other Friday and Saturday. Partners have committed funding to sustain dental services at or greater than the number of clinic days and patients seen in 2024. The program is also expanding to Lopez Island with a mobile dental van and portable equipment in April 2025!  

The need for dental care is great on our islands, for every patient seen we had at least three on the wait list with over 879 dental applications in 2024. Many clients seen at the dental clinics needed multiple appointments to ensure they received adequate treatment for their dental issues. Meeting these critical multi-visit needs presented challenges to meet the high demand. It is our goal that as these Community Clinics continue, fewer people will need multiple visits for complex dental issues, and that we will be able to meet more of the dental needs of our community.  

Thank You, Partners 

The Community Dental Clinics are made possible by the commitment and support of numerous community organizations. Our department would like to give a sincere thanks to everyone involved. On Orcas Island we would like to thank Orcas Island Health Care District, Orcas Island Community Foundation, Orcas Community Resource Center, Orcas Fire and Rescue, DentALL and Dr. Dubek, Mercy Flights, Angel Flights NW, and Marsha Waunch, volunteer extraordinaire. On San Juan Island we would like to thank Fish for Teeth and San Juan Island Dental. And thank you to the NSACH Oral Health LIN for their grant funding.  

To read the full report, click here.  

Relevant URLs:  

• Community Dental Clinic Application
• Community Dental Clinic webpage
• 2024 Community Dental Clinic End of Year Report

About San Juan County’s Department of Health & Community Services  

San Juan County’s Department of Health & Community Services is responsible for community and environmental health, mental health and substance abuse programs, senior services, affordable housing projects, and more. The department has staff and offices on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan Islands. For more information about San Juan County’s Department of Health & Community Services, visit www.sanjuancountywa.gov/1777/Health-Community-Services.