Okla. dental clinic to expand

A dental clinic in Oklahoma City will expand to become one of the largest dental clinics in the state.

Variety Care, a nonprofit community health center, has broken ground on an 8,000-sq-ft Dental Center of Excellence that will add 15 new dental chairs to its Straka Family Health Center in South Oklahoma City, the center announced. Variety Care provides comprehensive primary, including medical, dental, optometric, and behavioral healthcare.

The $4.3 million project will bring the total number of dental operatories at the site to 21, including six that will focus on pediatric dental care and 15 for adult care.

Variety Care officials said they get hundreds of calls each month for dental patients they cannot accommodate. The new dental center will allow them to hire additional dentists and hygienists, and will feature extra dental chairs for emergency walk-in patients and student rotations for workforce development.

The project is largely financed through an investment of New Markets Tax Credits facilitated by Cherokee Nation Businesses. Inasmuch Foundation, the United Way of Central Oklahoma, and the Wilshire Foundation also provided grant money for the new dental center.