Thirteen projects in 10 California counties were awarded last week a combined $47.2 million in Specialty Dental Clinic Grant Program funds by the California Health Facility Financing Authority. The 13 grant recipients will use the state budget funds CDA successfully advocated for to develop or expand roughly 124 dental operatories, surgery suites and other rooms to serve patients with special health care needs.
The grant recipients include dental school clinics, community clinics and private practices. They operate facilities in urban and rural areas of the state, from northern central Butte County to Imperial County — a desert region bordering Mexico in the southeast. Ultimately, the new and expanded clinics will improve timely access to oral health care in California communities while encouraging prevention services and providing education opportunities for students.
Limited access to dental care for patients with special needs is a decades-long crisis, even as California has made strides to increase access in the Medi-Cal Dental Program. Too few settings can accommodate patients with special needs, and many patients and their families travel hours to receive routine dental care. Some individuals wait years for care.
“The Specialty Dental Clinic program is going to transform dental care for patients with special needs in California,” said CDA President Max Martinez, DDS. “We have a dire need for more facilities that are equipped to serve individuals of all ages who require accommodations that traditional dental offices cannot provide. CDA and our advocacy partners fought hard to maintain every dollar of the proposed funding for this program. We are pleased to share that now, with these 13 awards, the construction projects can begin!”
‘Energized’ to expand clinic capacity and train more students
The 13 recipients of the Specialty Dental Clinic Grant are:
- Alameda Health System, Alameda County
- Amy H. Pham, A Professional Dental Corporation, Butte County
- California Northstate University LLC, Sacramento County
- Community Medical Centers Inc., San Joaquin County
- Elmer Hilo II, DMD, Inc., Los Angeles County
- ImpowerDent SurgiCenters Inc., Imperial County
- Janice Chen Dental Corporation, Riverside County
- Luciane Queiroz, DDS, Inc., Kern County
- Rajvir S. Bhogal, DDS, Inc., Sacramento County
- Russell Seheult, DDS, A Professional Corporation DBA Redlands Dental Surgery Center, San Bernardino County
- Regents of the University of California/University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry, Los Angeles County
- University of Southern California, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, Los Angeles County
- University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, San Francisco County
Recipients received between $2.2-$5 million each totaling the $47.2 million disbursement. More details are available from the State Treasurer’s Office, which oversees CHFFA.
Grant recipient Eric Sung, DDS, professor of clinical dentistry and inaugural holder of the Momentum Endowed Chair in Special Patient Care at UCLA School of Dentistry, said he is “energized not only by expanding our clinic size and capacity, but by UCLA’s ability to train more residents and dental students to care for patients with special health care needs.”
Like most clinics, UCLA’s clinic is backlogged with exceptionally long wait times for patients.
“Collectively, we will provide a nurturing clinic environment and decrease appointment wait times for families in need of this specialized dental care,” Dr. Sung said.
Elmer Hilo II, DMD, who practices in Eastern Los Angeles County, also received a Specialty Dental Clinic Grant. His office specializes in serving patients of all ages who require care under general anesthesia. He said the grant will help him create the infrastructure needed to expand his services and “impact this patient population on a much broader scale.”
“I aspire to create a clinic that will embody the best attributes of a dental office and an ambulatory surgical center that caters especially to SHCN treatment,” Dr. Hilo said. “This grant will help us tremendously in combating the disparity with SHCN patients.”
Grant awardees can use their awarded funds for eligible costs related to construction, expansion, modification and adaptation as described in the FAQ.
Expanding specialty dental clinics: An idea that started with CDA
CDA brought forward the idea of the grant program and led the push for it during the 2022-23 state budget negotiations with the support of a coalition of providers, dental schools, disability rights organizations and consumer advocates. And when California faced a significant deficit the following year, CDA successfully worked with lawmakers to maintain the original $50 million allocated for the program, which had been targeted for cuts.
CDA promoted the program regularly through the April 2024 application deadline. CHFFA received 101 applications totaling $270 million in proposed projects — far beyond the $50 million allocated.
“This overwhelming response in application numbers is a testament to both the need for special health care services — and dentists’ desire to provide them,” Dr. Martinez said. “Access to oral health care, including reducing long waits for needed services, has long been a priority for CDA. With this program we will bridge that gap sooner.”
