9NEWS COLORADO, USA — Two clinics in metro Denver work to offer free or low-cost dental services to veterans and kids. The Heroes Clinic at the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz offers discounted services to veterans, and the Kids in Need of Dentistry (KIND) clinics offer dental services to children at three clinics across the Front Range.
KIND clinics
KIND (Kids in Need of Dentistry) clinics have been providing free screenings and low-cost or free dental care for Front Range Kids since 1912.
Executive Director Ellie Burbee said no one is turned away from the three clinics in metro Denver, two in Denver and one in Commerce City. “KIND treats kids from infancy to age 18 and often beyond,” Burbee said. She said they work with each family to provide the best care possible. “If they are covered by Medicaid or CHIP they are taken care of,” Burbee said. “If they are uninsured, we treat kids starting at a 75% discount, and beyond that, we work on a sliding fee scale depending on what families can afford.”
She added that KIND is also in more than 100 schools every year, with the program’s hygienist doing preventative dentistry. “We do sealants in that program [and] they do fluoride treatments, scientifically proven to reduce cavities and dental disease and decay well past the date they are administered,” Burbee said. “And then they do screenings for any other issues and make sure anything is escalated to our actual dentist on staff.” Burbee said that many don’t realize the critical need for early dental intervention with children. Kids miss 51 million hours of school a year due to dental pain. “It’s the number one reason for school absences in the United States,” Burbee said.
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