New dental clinic opens to take care of poor children

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.

The Paradise Park Children's Dental Clinic, a new free dental care facility for poor children, opened this afternoon and is expected to serve 500 children in need of dental services in its first year.

Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid and the Children's Dental Care International were instrumental in establishing the clinic in the former Paradise Park Community Center at 4770 Harrison Drive, near Tropicana Avenue and McLeod Drive in the southeastern Las Vegas Valley.

County and clinic officials expect the number of needy children to increase in future years.

Initially all dental procedures will be provided free of charge, Reid said. A sliding-scale fee is expected to be initiated at a later date.

Children will be referred to the clinic through numerous social service agencies.

"This public/private partnership will ensure that our most vulnerable children have access to dental care," Reid said.

Children's Dental Care International co-founders Dr. Dawn McClellan and Mike PeQueen are also co-founders of the Paradise Park Children's Dental Clinic.

The county commission awarded the nonprofit organization $490,000 in grant funds for the design, construction and operation of the 9,470-square-foot clinic.

McClellan will provide patient care along with two other pediatric dentists and an office manager.

"Today we are committing to provide comprehensive oral health care to impoverished children and youth in Clark County, who have no access to dentistry," McClellan said. "Without the county's support and funding, this clinic would not be possible."

Volunteer dentists and associates of the Children's Dental Care International have logged more than 1 million travel miles to perform 9,000 dental procedures on more than 3,000 children around the world. The nonprofit is scheduled to open a second pediatric dental clinic in Jaffan, Sri Lanka next month.

"No child should go without dental care, regardless of his or her financial condition," said County Commissioner Myrna Williams, whose district will also be served by the clinic.