County's dental clinic nearly ready

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead County Community Health Center expects to have a mobile dental unit operating by the end of November.

The dental clinic will be set up in a mobile facility next to the county's Earl Bennett Building at 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell, only until a third-floor addition to the county building is completed.

Then it will relocate inside the Earl Bennett Building, said Wendy Doely, executive director of the Community Health Center.

Dental quarters within the expanded building will include five examination rooms, she said. Dr. Jennie Helm has been hired to provide dental care; an assistant will join her.

Fees will be charged on a sliding scale, just as they are for the health center, with a minimum fee of $40 per visit for those at 100 percent of the federal poverty level.

Doely said she expects the dental clinic to provide largely emergency care at first and later expand to preventive care such as cleanings.

Appointments will be made through the main health-center telephone number at 751-8113. Applicants must bring proof of income.