Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children 

We offer a full array of affordable dentistry services, including preventive, restorative, and endodontic treatment in three dental clinics throughout the South Puget Sound region, as well as a Dental Outreach program.  Our Dental Outreach allows us to coordinate with schools and community agencies ‘to go to where the children in greatest need are’ to provide dental screenings, fluoride varnishes, and sealants, as well as refer them to an affordable, on-going dental home.

Our three clinic locations include:  Parkland (10-chairs); South Tacoma (6-chairs), and Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula (3-chairs).  We are opening an East Bremerton clinic in 2013.  Our fully professionally staffed clinics include licensed dentists, certified dental assistants, and experienced front office staff, all of whom focus on providing the best child-centered care and oral health education to patients and their families.  We were one of the initial certified Access to Baby & Child Dentistry (ABCD) early education and prevention dental providers and remain so today. We accept all Medicaid plans, TRICARE Dental (military dental insurance), and most private insurances.  Due to our private, not-for-profit status, we have a unique agreement with TRICARE Dental to waive out-of-pocket costs for covered services for families that qualify based on size and income (basically children of enlisted service persons).  Over 99% of our patients are from low-income families in the South Sound, that is, we serve children who might not otherwise have access to or receive consistent, quality dental care.

Through partnerships and community support, we have grown from providing 12,000 patient visits in 2008 to over 34,000 in 2011, all to South Sound children from low income families.  We reduced barriers to care by opening two additional clinics (within the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound HOPE Centers) and adding a Dental Outreach Program, to go to where the children in greatest need are. One of the children we served is Darrell.  At age 17, Darrell had never been to the dentist because his family could not afford care.  When he began to miss school due to tooth pain, the school nurse referred him to Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children.  When he arrived at the clinic, Darrell said that he rarely smiled throughout his childhood because he was too embarrassed by his tooth decay.  Generous support from donors helped us provide Darrell the dental care that he desperately needed.  After 17 fillings, a root canal, and two crowns, Darrell returned to school with one less troubled area in his life.  He now beams confidently with a warm and healthy smile!

Tooth decay is preventable and treatable, yet, there is still a gap between those needing care and access to affordable, on-going dental care.  Please help us raise $785,845 capital and equipment funds to build a new dental clinic in East Bremerton, an area of great need with few resources.  With your support, the 6-chair dental clinic will open in 2013 on the Bremerton Youth Wellness Campus enabling us to provide roughly 7,000 patient visits annually to children in need, ages 0 through 18.  Your gift makes a significant and critical investment in a child’s oral health prevention, treatment, and education to minimize long term health care costs, and, importantly, allow our neighborhood children to reach their full potential.