The mission of Lincoln County Dental Inc. is to provide access to dental care to those individuals who are at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty line and have no dental “home.” The agency opened its doors seven years ago and served Lincoln County residents. In June 2016, a catastrophic flood destroyed the clinic, forcing the abrupt closure of the Damariscotta location. Since that time, the administrative home for Lincoln County Dental has been on the St. Andrews Campus of LincolnHealth, where it has continued to provide a very limited array of services.
The need for improved access to dental care there is a looming crisis in Lincoln County. In late August, Wiscasset Dental announced the closing of its facility, which was a large dental practice that served low-income and Medicaid patients. This left another significant gap in access to affordable dental care for people in need in Lincoln County. There is limited opportunity for dental appointment access for MaineCare recipients, and the area does not have a low-income/sliding fee program, as most counties do. The presence of dental disease and infection has a deleterious impact on the overall health and well-being of people and can lead to very serious health outcomes.
To meet the needs of the people, Lincoln County Dental announces that it is launching its “Give a Smile” campaign to create a permanent dental clinic in an existing or newly constructed building. Having a facility will allow Lincoln County Dental to achieve its mission for its patients. It needs to raise funding of $1.25 million to purchase or build a facility and hire staff to get up and running at full capacity as soon as physically possible.
According to Kathryn Young, licensed denturist and founder, “Dentistry plays a vital role in a person’s overall health and we have friends and neighbors suffering. The program needs to get opened back up to help them.”
For more information about the campaign, contact Lincoln County Dental Executive Director Holly Stover at 563-8668 or hstover@lcdental.org. To donate, please send contributions to P.O. Box 256, Boothbay, ME 04537. Lincoln County Dental is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency.
