Question: Can staff estimate the funds required to contract with Neighborhood Health to provide to provide a specialist dentist either once a week or twice a month at the dental clinic at the Del Pepper Center? (Councilman McPike)
Response:
In recent years, Neighborhood Health has begun offering several specialty dental services at the Del Pepper Center, including pediatric dentistry, anterior root canals, and nitrous sedation. The cost of expanding on those services varies widely depending on the specific (sub)specialties to be offered.
The primary constraint limiting Neighborhood Health’s ability to expand services further is the highly uncertain funding environment: ensuring continued operational funding for basic services is critical to stabilize all services under the current service model. Once this funding is available, Neighborhood Health would be able to further expand services, including specialty care on a part time basis with remaining capacity at the Mark Center dental clinic.