We are one of the largest nonprofit dental practices in Minnesota and we provide a complete array of preventative, restorative, and emergency dental services to a diverse community of individuals, children, families, and the elderly anyone who needs care.
We believe access to quality dental care is the greatest gap in the American healthcare system. There is an overwhelming body of evidence that good oral hygiene and quality dental care are critical to overall health, personal performance and well-being. People who lack access to good dental care suffer disproportionately from the many effects of the unfilled need for care.
Each year, we care for nearly 50,000 patients, who are served by our 200+ staff members, including dentists, hygienists, assistants, and administrative team. Our patients come from all walks of life and income groups many require public assistance, so they do not always have the resources to pay for the care they need.
Our quality care and accessibility is only possible through generous donations from individuals, businesses and foundations, as well as government sponsored public programs. This financial support is essential to our ability to serve the thousands of Minnesotans who might otherwise not receive much needed care.
Thank you for remembering Community Dental Care with your gift to help people smile again.Please note pictures and names have been changed to protect the identity of our patients. Community Dental Care mini-grants are available on a case-by-case basis to assist patients in need who meet eligibility criteria, depending on funds available and at the clinics discretion.
Community Dental Cares School-Based Sealant Program provides preventive dental services and referral assistance to diverse, low-income students at 15 elementary schools in the Twin Cities, serving children who may not otherwise have access to dental care. We met Noah, who held back tears in his eyes as he anxiously made his way to the bright red, mobile dental chair. Kate, our kind and compassionate hygienist, carefully prepared Noah for his visit. She showed him the silly straw used to suck up saliva, the tooth counter that does a little tap dance on teeth, and the air-water sprayer that tickles your gums. Still, Noah was apprehensive and we were unable to complete a screening. With attention and care, Kate applied fluoride varnish and explained to Noah that he could return whenever he felt ready.
Grayson and his family drive over forty minutes to access dental care at our clinic. During his visit, our dentist found that Grayson had some cavities and gave him a treatment plan, as well as a referral to our Program to Improve Community Oral Health (PICOH) to help him learn how to prevent cavities.
Meet 6-year-old Eh La. When he walked in with his mother, he was visibly in pain. He wasnt sleeping and missed two days of school. Eh La put on a brave face as he slowly made his way into the chair and stared at our dentist with tears in his eyes. Eh La had deep cavities that resulted in a large abscess. An abscess, left untreated, can spread infection throughout a childs entire body. Our dentist explained to Eh Las mother the condition of her sons tooth and showed her the cause of Eh Las restless nights in pain. Eh Las mother was worried she couldn't pay for Eh La's treatment. Through a gift from a generous donor, we were able to provide treatment at no cost to the family. Now, he has a healthy mouth and can return to school to learn.
These gifts allow us to continue our mission so we can meet the needs of the underserved. These are the stories of some of our amazing donors and why they choose to give to Community Dental Care. Thank you for your generous support!
(1922 - 2021) We honor and remember the life and legacy of Dr. Clarence Bass, one of the founding Board members of Community Dental Care. At age 98, Dr. Bass died surrounded by his loving family. Dr. Bass provided tremendous leadership and thoughtful advice as a CDC Board member for over 15 years. He was known for his giant heart for helping underprivileged communities, and led with a principle to help others less fortunate. Dr. Bass contribution to Community Dental Care will be forever treasured. Clarence was a man of great accomplishments, while also having a humble spirit and deeply caring for others. I will greatly miss his friendship and wisdom, Cedric Long, Chairman of the Board, shared.
He was greatly loved by his family, former students, missionaries, colleagues, friends and everyone who knew him. Phil Lacher, CFO of Community Dental Care shared, Clarence was an honest, caring, smart and informed man and I consider it an honor to have called him my friend he will be missed.
This is where I am meant to be, Carolyn shared as she reflected on her nearly 30-year history with Community Dental Care in St Paul. In the beginning, Carolyn was an advisor to Dr. Petersons dental practice, leading staff meetings once a month. As the clinic grew, serving a high number of refugees and immigrants from Southeast Asia, Dr. Peterson recruited her to manage her practice full-time. Since then, Carolyn has dedicated her career to providing compassionate and thoughtful leadership. Carolyn explained, Oral health is often overlooked when we talk about the overall health of the body. Oral disease causes children to miss more school than for any other reason. Without access to care, it can cause a great deal of pain and, in extreme cases, an infection can travel to your brain and cause death. This continues to be very dear to my heart because we see so many people who are suffering. You also see their gratitude and how youve made a difference in their lives. When asked why she donates to Community Dental Care, Carolyn shared, When you really believe in something, you invest. You invest your time, your efforts, and your money. We are deeply grateful for Carolyns investment in improving the health of our community.
You may know Phil Lacher, Community Dental Cares longtime CFO, as the highly competent, reliable and compassionate leader that he is, but did you know he is also one of our longest and largest donors? For over 10 years, Phil and Deb have made monthly contributions to Community Dental Care in support of our mini-grant fund to provide free dental care for children and adults in need. When asked why they give, Phil explained, My heart is with children. Some of these kids dont stand a chance in life unless we help them. Phil prioritizes giving to our mini-grant fund because he knows his gifts go directly to people in need, both adults and children who have urgent dental disease and cannot afford care. We see so many people who need help, I hope to inspire others to give to the mini-grant fund as well. Phil has worked for Community Dental Care for more than 12 years, and has seen the organization through both great expansion and many challenges. When asked to comment, Karen Kleinhans, CEO, shared, I am so grateful for Phil, not only for his expertise, hard work and reliability, but also for his tremendous commitment to our mission. We are so fortunate to have him as our CFO and friend!
Thank you to the Kubo Della Torre Charitable Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation for your generous gifts to Community Dental Care! Drs. Adele Della Torre, DDS, and Spencer Kubo, MD, care deeply about the health and well-being of all people. We believe that every person has a basic right to health care, education, housing, food and employment, and it is our responsibility to work for the common good. When asked why they give to Community Dental Care, Dr. Della Torre explained, You serve so many people who suffer from disparities in access to dental care. Dr. Della Torre, a private dentist in Minneapolis, founded Ready Set Smile in 2013 as a not-for-profit to provide culturally sensitive preventive dental services and education in schools serving low resourced families. While I have worked in many areas of social justice, as a dentist, I know low income and immigrant families face many barriers in accessing desperately needed oral health care. Community Dental Care partners with Ready Set Smile to provide restorative care for children with advanced cavities. We are working toward the same goals and want to support the work that Community Dental Care does for people of all ages.
Founders of Community Dental Care, Dr. Andrew and Dr. Vacharee Peterson have been long time donors. They began their practice in 1982 with one dental chair and a mission to deliver care to underserved communities, especially new immigrant, refugee and low-income families. When asked why they support the organization, Dr. Peterson said, Because they do good work for the community. A verse I would like to share is Proverbs 11:24-25, One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Dr. Peterson stated, I dream to have a cavity free world and it starts small. Brushing is most importantand especially for everyone NOT to go to bed with dirty teeth. It starts with babies and toddlers, but this message can be for everyone. Dr. Petersons passion is to prevent disease in children and is the driving force behind her work. Their legacy and vision continues to live through the staff, volunteers, board and donors of Community Dental Care.
When asked why they give, Jane and Mary said, We support Community Dental Care because dental care is an important part of health care and should be available to ALL PEOPLE. Thank you to Mary and Jane Campion for their tremendous support in time, talent and treasure. Honoring their fathers legacy as a dentist in the community of Rochester, Jane and Mary serve as Rochester Advisory Council members for Community Dental Care. Jane emphasizes that Dr. Charles Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic and visionary innovator in health care delivery, stated in 1915, The next great preventive step in medicine lies with the dentists. Oral hygiene education will do much toward lowering the death rate in Minnesota.
Thank you to Dr. Tyler Beinlich for all that you do for your patients and your gift to Community Dental Care! Dr. Beinlich is a pediatric dentist who provides specialty dental care for children with significant dental disease. When asked about why he made a donation to Community Dental Care, Dr. Beinlich said, While working at Community Dental Care I saw first-hand how patients received help directly from charitable gifts from donors. I wanted to contribute to keep the work going so that more people could get care. Dr. Beinlich shared, When you have a child in the dental chair, in a lot of pain, and you see how brave they are during a procedure that is difficult and you then see the child realize that they have in themselves the ability to overcome that it is very rewarding to see them happy at the end of their visit.
Languages that are spoken by our staff include Amharic, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Burmese, Croatian, Dinka, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Hmong, Karen, Laotian, Luganda, Mandarin, Marathi, Nepali, Oromo, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Ukrainian, Urdu, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.
Reviews
Rating 2.9 out of 5 based on 163 reviews
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newest oldest highest lowestBella Bashi
a year ago
No wonder this place has such a bad rating really mean staff who don't take any consideration into how people feel.. they canceled my appointment two times.. shame on you guys. Im looking for another dentist
Roman Aries
a year ago
I have been going here for a couple of years now. I am not sure what has changed, but the quality of dental work that I have received has declined drastically. I had a tooth extraction and two filings done here in the last months and I have had so many complications with everything. I have went to the same Dr. a few times and every time I have left with more pain than when I came in. Recently, I had a broken crown extracted and when I looked in the mirror after almost a hour of the Dr. trying to extract the broken tooth, I seen how mangled my upper gums were. I could not believe that my gums were destroyed like that. After the procedure was finished, the Dr. gave me a Vicodin rx. I'm sure she already knew the damage that was caused was suppose to happen. A few days after the extraction, I noticed that there was something hard in the spot and it was extremely painful, not your normal "healing pain". Come to find out weeks later during my post op appt, there WAS still a decent chunk of tooth left in the hole. I asked her to pull it and not to numb me up, because I was so irritated with everything and wanted to go at that point. I also ended up getting bad dry socket and infection in the wound, even though I followed all instructions for aftercare. I asked for antibiotics beforehand too. I had a molar extracted that was very slow to heal and I already had a bad feeling. When I went back to get the piece of tooth out that was left, the Dr. finally prescribed me antibiotics, which helped my open wound to heal way faster. The whole month was pure agony. The pain and the mental distress. Soon after this extraction I was fitted for a flipper and that did not fit at all. I cant even wear it, because it is so off and crooked. I told her about this too and the only thing offered was to adjust it. One more thing that has me upset about the service I received here.... I went in for two cavities to be filled 2 weeks ago. As soon as the Dr. was finished I felt so much pain and the filling was jagged, like a lego piece was in my tooth. She said it normal. I left and ever since my appointment I have almost finished a whole 100ct bottle of ibuprofen, because every time the meds wear off, my tooth is throbbing. I really think I will now need a root canal. The teeth were not even bothering me before I came to get them filled. I was finally able to get ahold of someone in the clinic today after trying for a week. I told them how painful the new fillings are and was only OFFERED to come to the office for a "walk-in emergency appointment", but there is no guarantee that I'd be seen. I really dislike how I am not even treated with human decency. I have tried to find other locations and after talking to the other community dental locations, I was told that I have to go back to the same person at Maplewood Community dental that has carelessly worked on my teeth. I refuse to go back to the same person. Why would I? I do not want to come back here again. I will have to pay out of pocket for a new exam elsewhere and hope that I do not need a root canal, because of the Dr.'s carelessness. Rant over. My experience here has been nothing but horrible. Ridiculous.
Judy's channel
a year ago
never answer the phone even-though I left a voicemail.
Alfreda Boles
a year ago
My daughter referred me here and I like it here. Today was my second visit and I got 2 cavities fixed and I was treated with care. I got there early and got called within 15 minutes and all the staff is very nice.
Corin Kichler
2 years ago
Went in for my appointment, they then said my insurance wouldn't cover yhe extraction amd the office was closed. I was confused as they usually always covered extractions. Then she tells me it's more complicated because it's a wisdom tooth. I made the appointment to have a different tooth pulled, they recommended 7 total being pulled 1 being my wisdom but I told them I'd think about it. So they agree to pull my top and bottom molars and the dentist walked in put 2 q tips in each location turned around grabbed the needle removed the q tip maybe 39 seconds later and started the injections. My anxiety was now threw the roof I was shaking like crazy, they wanted another x ray so they did that and the dentist came back after 5 min did one more Injection into my more painful area and then pulled the first one out in less then 5 min. I literally heard the cracking inside my mouth. The 2nd tooth, he started and cracked the tooth in half and I could feel it. I screamed from the pain and they asked was it pain or pressure or the sound? Ummm pain makes me scream not pressure or sounds.. he said well I'm sorry but I've given you the absolute max Novacane. There's nothing else I can do, we can Gove you a referral to a specialty clinic to put you to sleep, I asked I insurance covers that he said he didn't think so but it shouldn't cost too much... yeah I've heard that in b4, but how you gonna break a tooth in half then send me on my way to go to another dentist where he would then have to cut out the tooth since you just broke the top off I said I can't afford the out of pocket so just do it. Was painful but he got it out. But left blood all over my lips and cheek. Didn't even know til I was home, I felt so stupid walking into walgreens to fill the prescription with blood all over my numbed cheek, they could have at least cleaned it up or told me about it. If only I had better paying jobs I could of afforded a better dentist lol
Iceice Barnes
2 years ago
They lied about pockets in my gums and said I didn't need deep cleaning and let me walk around with horrible breath for 2 years but hustled my insurance for bs cleaning, if I didn't go to a different dentist my teeth would be a total loss, people go here because they don't have much money and these people take advantage of them I hope they get Sued class action, pulling poor people teeth and lying.
P Y
2 years ago
Receptionists was unprofessional and rude. There were two receptionts just sitting and talking to each other while one was only helping check in patients.
Perfectly Unique Craft & Gift Shows
2 years ago
How they left my niece and then refuse to call back or see her the day after!
Lori Pingatore
2 years ago
2 strikes. I had two teeth done there and had to have both pulled out due to their errors. 1. Their crowns are knock offs and not pure metal. I had an allergic reaction to the nickel alloy in the crown. They removed it and replaced with a temporary crown; but they failed to read my chart and see my latex allergy and gave me bonding material that is latex derived. I ended up in ER on prednisone for hives and in pain. Then when they finally pulled the whole thing out, I ended up with bone chips and infection. 2. I thought I needed a different tooth pulled. They insisted on trying a filling first which ended up being too deep causing me excruciating pain, a trip to the ER for lesions on my gums and throat, and finally another extraction--at a more reputable oral surgeon. $$$ I gave them two chances. Two epic failures. Never going back.
Kelly Murphy
2 years ago
Don't waste your time they fixed my tooth 6 times later and it keeps breaking now that I'm down to less then 90% of my tooth now they won't even make an appointment to fix it again they will on the other hand make an appointment to put a porcelain tooth in for a low fee of $1,500 to $2,000 out of my pocket because my insurance won't cover porcelain teeth
Roberta Madison
2 years ago
I have always had good service here. The place is clean, quiet and the staff is friendly.
Shemiah Walker
2 years ago
Stop pulling teeth,learn to fill teeth.
Life of Vi
2 years ago
Always scheduled out for months. No one ever answers the phone. No one knows what's going on ever.
Amy Yang
2 years ago
Just called in April and they don't have availability until September. Save your time and go somewhere else.
Jill Green
2 years ago
Just got a phone call that my dentist appointment for tomorrow's May 4th 2022 was cancelled due to the hygienist not working there anymore. I said ok. They said they need to reschedule. I say ok. They respond with. "The soonest we can get you in is NOVEMBER." Um. That means I will go a year without a teeth cleaning AFTER I waited 6mths for this appointment. And the girl calling couldn't figure out why that was a problem. I may be wrong, but when a doctor/dentist cancels the appointment THEY scheduled, wouldn't they have one SOONER than 6mths out?! I have never had an issue with this place, I recommend them to everyone. But this? I feel like the ball was dropped and am so not happy with this.
Bee yang
2 years ago
Have been suffering immense pain for a week . Contacted several dental office before calling here . They either not accepting new patients or booked for several weeks . Community dental was able to squeeze me in for a emergency dental visit the next morning . It turned out my tooth ache pain was because of a large crack in my upper back tooth . They gave me two option . Either get a root canal and a crown or have the tooth extracted . I was given a estimated cost of both procedures. Getting the root canal and crown would of not been a problem . I could've withdrawn money from my 401k with medical bill proof easily . I decided to have the tooth extracted instead because there was a chance the damaged tooth would have to extracted in the future even with a root canal and crown . They were able to extract my tooth the same day and sent me on my way . Will definitely come here in the future for all my dental needs and refer all of my co workers .... Had a bad experience one time in the past and decided to stop coming here . The dentist with the bad experience doesn't work here anymore ...
Jolisa Marie
2 years ago
Love this place. Front desk staff are always amazing, and dentists and assistants do a great job as well. I've always been taken care of.
Amanda Phillips
2 years ago
Dr Lee is amazing! Did amazing work on my dentures! I'd give 5 stars but whenever I call I'm always on hold for an hour before someone answers. But overall service in the office is amazing!
Sarah Davis
2 years ago
Completely thrilled with the care I received today from my hygienist Jerry and Dr. Shivan Nelson. Thank you Maplewood Community Dental for my care and my son's care when he had an accident in shop class. Highly recommend this provider and these professionals. Thank you!
MaKayla Czerminger
2 years ago
5 stars?? You bet! I'm not kidding when I say they made me feel so welcomed and calm I have never EVER walked into a a dentist withour crying or having a major anxiety attack.. I waited probably 20 min which is way better then I expected THE ENTIRE WORLD IS SHORT STAFFED (so be kind) from the moment I walked in until I walked out everyone was smiling and so kind very respectful. Now to the real part my pain level was at 0 procedure was a 10 out of 10 and the dentist and the assistant were the absolute best they were so gentle,kind and reassuring the entire time. Please go get your teeth fixed! I was fortunate enough even with waiting 8 years to go back go get help. Go to community dental always remember to be kind and respectful and they will do there best to help you that's there job! Your job is to remain calm and to respect those that work to make you better
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