Mission Statement
The mission of the Interfaith Dental Clinic is to restore, protect, and improve the oral health of uninsured, low-income, working people their children, & the elderly in the greater Nashville area through access to affordable quality dental care, oral disease prevention services, and oral health education.
Description
The Interfaith Dental Clinic is a 501(c)(3) program founded to bring people of all faiths together in a healing ministry, serving the working poor and the elderly through quality, affordable, comprehensive dental care.
The clinic's goals are:
- To offer affordable dental care for Middle Tennessee's working poor.
- To improve patients' self-esteem by restoring their appearance.
- To increase employability and work attendance by lessening pain and improving appearance.
- To educate patients about oral hygiene and nutrition to break the cycle of tooth decay in their families.
The Interfaith Dental Clinic provides dental care for the uninsured, low-income, working people and the elderly population in Nashville and its surrounding communities. We service eight counties throughout Middle Tennessee. They include; Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson. During our 2010-2011 fiscal year we recorded over 7,700 patient visits, and saw 194 patients graduate through our entire restorative and educational program. All of our patients pay on a sliding fee scale, based in income and family size. They pay from 20-50% of our fees, with the majority paying at the 20% level.
The clinic began with two chairs and one employee in a church basement. We have since purchased our own building and expanded to a state-of-the-art, ten operatory facility. We were blessed with over 6,000 volunteer hours in the last fiscal year, and without them we would not have been able to serve the number of deserving patients that we did.
