🦷All Care breaks ground on a $5.7 million dental clinic to help address a waitlist of more than 2,000

If you've struggled to find a dentist in southwest Iowa, this is welcome news. All Care Health Center broke ground Monday on a $5.7 million dental clinic in Council Bluffs that will more than double the dental patients the nonprofit can serve.

The need is big. KMTV says 2,000 people, including 400 children, are on the waitlist at a single dental clinic in Council Bluffs. Local health professionals say low Iowa Medicaid reimbursement rates and a shortage of providers can force neighbors to drive hours for care. "The need here in the southwestern part of Iowa is just overwhelming," All Care CEO Joel Dougherty said.

• Dentists say Medicaid pays too little to take many patients
• Some families drive more than an hour for care
• Firefly relies on private-practice dentists' generosity

Shawna Dunn, the Council Bluffs Community School District's lead nurse, works with Liz Addison at Firefly, a public health nonprofit, to find children help. "Some of these littles, that have never even seen a dentist, and they come in and they're in pain," Dunn said.