Collaboration improves access to dental care in west-central Minnesota

Nonprofit Apple Tree Dental and the Minnesota Department of Human Services each had dental offices in Fergus Falls in need of improvement, a situation that set the stage for a first-of-its-kind partnership.

After several years in development, a new state-of-the-art shared dental care facility finally opened this fall to replace those outdated clinics.

"Apple Tree Dental's specialty has always been providing dental care to low-income and underserved populations. And DHS has deep clinical expertise and specialty dentistry for people with disabilities and mental illness,” said Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead. “And so coming together in a brand new facility and sharing the space is really a great opportunity."

The project could potentially be a model in four other Minnesota communities where the DHS provides specialty dental care, Harpstead said.

“We know that lack of dental care is a very serious problem for millions of Minnesotans, and especially in greater Minnesota. Even people who have dental coverage can find it difficult to find care because they live more than an hour's drive from the nearest dentist,” she said. “So we're always pleased when we can place really great specialty dental care right out into the middle of greater Minnesota.”

The state is a tenant in the $5 million facility, which is owned by Apple Tree Dental, a nonprofit with eight dental care facilities around the state serving low-income residents. Funding came from a variety of sources including foundations, local government and the private sector, said Apple Tree Dental CEO Michael Helgeson, who thinks this project shows the value of collaboration between government, nonprofits and the private sector to expand scarce dental care.

“It's another example of how by leveraging the expertise of different organizations, and using the infrastructure that the different organizations already have, we can overcome a lot of the barriers and get the resources needed to bring care to people that really need it,” said Helgeson.

Helgeson is already planning an expansion at the new facility to increase mobile dental care across the region in the future.

The new facility will help reduce a backlog of hundreds of patients waiting for dental care in west-central Minnesota.

“It's going to be a huge step forward,” said Helgeson. “We had more than 1,200 families on waiting lists, unable to get dental appointments, and with the new and much larger facility, we're going to be able to catch up on that backlog of people that are seeking dental care.”