A big new motor home style vehicle will enable the team to provide even more dental care to patients during its road trips.

The center’s mobile dental clinic got its formal introduction Monday morning.

While it is traditional to cut a ribbon at such events, on Monday the ribbon emerged from an oversized version of a dental floss container.

“We are really excited to be able to share this,” said Renee Kruckenberg, the chief executive officer of the health center.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Renee Kruckenberg, chief executive officer of the Community Health Center of Fort Dodge, speaks during a Monday morning event that marked the formal debut of the mobile dental clinic.

She said the unit is equipped to provide full “restorative services for teeth.” That includes fillings and caps.

A $350,000 grant from the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation helped to pay for the $500,000 vehicle.

“Oral health and overall health all work together,” April Schmaltz, president and chief executive officers of Delta Dental of Iowa, said Monday morning at the event. “Too many Iowans are facing obstacles to access to care.”

The mobile dental clinic is built in a Winnebago motor home body. But instead of having the typical living quarters inside, it has two dental chairs and all the related equipment.

Kruckenberg said it is staffed by a dentist and two dental assistants.There can be two patients at a time in the vehicle.

The unit was delivered in April. Kruckenberg said it has already been used to serve a couple hundred patients at the center’s new location in Spencer.

“It works great,” she said. “There is plenty of space to go back and forth between the patients.”

She said the mobile clinic will be used Mondays through Fridays at area schools.

During the summer months, it will be used at nursing homes and to provide “pop-up clinics” in rural areas.