With the River People Health Center slated for a November construction completion, the yet-unnamed dental suite housed on the second floor will be run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and will be providing emergency and preventive dental care to enrolled Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community members and other enrolled Native patients.

Dr. Leland J. Pond (Assiniboine Sioux Nakota/Northern Cheyenne Tribes of Montana) will head the dental services, and the general dentist at the SRPMIC Dental Clinic, Dr. David Meyer, will also continue providing care to the Community at the new dental suite.

The suite will have 20 operatories, or dental laboratories, open on day one, and the facility has the ability to expand to 40 in total.

The biggest new service being explored by the dental team is offering same-day or next-day crowns to patients. Other services provided will include emergency evaluation and treatment, cleanings, fillings, extractions, root canal therapy, crowns, bridges, partial and full dentures, flippers and pediatric dentistry. Other services are being evaluated by HHS.

“We have the infrastructure to provide comfort dentistry via nitrous, as well as infrastructure for specialties like oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics and orthodontics,” said SRPMIC clinic administrator Timothy Joyce. “We will no longer be limited by our facility as to how much and what services we can offer.” Joyce said that the new dental suite will be adding longer hours and will be open more days of the week than the current dental clinic.