Dental clinic expansion improves access to patient care

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Brigitte N. Brantley-Sisk
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  The recent expansion to the 23rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron dental clinic was officially acknowledged during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 2.

The nearly $1 million facility was funded through the 2007 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission and increases the potential number of patients by about one-third.

"With the expected influx of Airmen after the BRAC, planning for an expansion to the dental clinic began right away," said Col. Roger Pradelli, 23rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron dental flight commander. "This expansion allows us to offer better access to patient care, which means we can see more patients and reduce the amount of time they wait to get an appointment."

This equates to approximately 3,000 more appointments each year and is facilitated by the extra space.

"We now have four new dental treatment rooms which are about 1,700 square feet," said Colonel Pradelli. "One of those is exclusively a dental surgery suite, which has track lighting and even more room for equipment. In addition to the rooms, we were also given more administrative and storage space."

More patients can also be seen because of the increase in the number of dental providers.

"For many years, including when I came in, the manning for the dental corps and was very low," said the colonel. "Now, because manning for the corps is at 100 percent, we have our full allotment of eight credentialed dentists and they each have their own room to practice in."

Previously, low manning prevented as many patients from being seen. Although the project took a couple years to be completed, it was the combined efforts of many units that made it happen.

"It took a lot of behind-the-scenes work from experts for this dental expansion come to fruition," said Col. Mark Koppen, 23rd Medical Group commander. "Architects, contractors, civil engineers and many others worked together to make this well-designed project happen.

"Because of this expansion, we can continue to take good care of our beneficiaries," he added.

Last year, the clinic cared for more than 13,200 patients and is on track to be able to care for one-third more of that number in the coming year.