The Florida Legislature has approved a $500,000 funding measure for a dental van to provide services to uninsured adults in an effort to help fill a void left by the recent closure of the University of Florida (UF) College of Dentistry's Jacksonville clinic.
State Rep. Mia Jones (D-Jacksonville) introduced the measure, which was approved last week. The dental van will be run by the Duval County Health Department and will provide the same care as the UF clinic, Jones said.
"That way, we could keep the services in the community," Jones said in a press release, adding that she hopes the van will be running by January.
The clinic, where supervised dental residents provided emergency dental procedures and a full range of advanced treatments for 23 years, was forced to close its doors June 30, citing cutbacks in state funding.
The popular clinic drew up to 20 patients a day, including children, elderly patients, and those with medically compromised conditions.
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