Low cost or free dental clinics Kentucky
Kentucky has dental schools that treat the public — the University of Kentucky in Lexington and the University of Louisville, which also runs community dental clinics in Elizabethtown, Owensboro, Paducah, and Shelbyville. The state's Medicaid program includes dental services, and a Donated Dental Services program has matched volunteer dentists with patients here since 2015. Alongside those statewide programs, a network of community health centers and volunteer clinics provides dental care in most regions of the commonwealth.
This page covers the dental schools, income-based dental centers, and free volunteer clinics across Kentucky, with phone numbers, websites, and notes on who qualifies. Dental coverage is a separate problem from medical coverage: many Kentuckians with health insurance have no dental insurance, and Medicare does not pay for routine dental work. If you need a doctor rather than a dentist, this site keeps a separate guide to free health care clinics in Kentucky. The sections on this page are organized by region, followed by statewide programs that serve every county.
Louisville and Jefferson County
Louisville has its own directory on this site. Free and income-based dental care in the metro area, including the Family Health Centers and Park DuValle networks, is covered on the guide to free health and dental clinics in Jefferson County. The University of Louisville School of Dentistry, which is also in the city, appears in the dental schools section later on this page because its clinics serve patients from across the state.
Lexington and central Kentucky
Mission Health Lexington, formerly known as Mission Lexington, runs a free dental clinic staffed by volunteer dentists and hygienists at 230 South Martin Luther King Blvd in Lexington. The clinic serves adults in Fayette County who have no dental insurance and meet income guidelines, and there is a waiting list for new patients. Care may include exams, x-rays, fillings, extractions, and root canals, with dentures available for a reduced fee. A Spanish interpreter may be arranged by appointment. Call 859-272-0219 or read https://missionhealthlex.org for details.
Refuge Clinic is a nonprofit clinic at 2349 Richmond Rd in Lexington that treats uninsured and underinsured residents of Fayette and Jessamine counties who meet income guidelines. Dental services may include preventive care, fillings, and extractions, alongside the clinic's medical services. Call 859-225-4325, and the website is https://www.refugeministriesky.org.
White House Clinics is a community health center network with locations in Richmond, Berea, McKee, Irvine, Mt. Vernon, and Lancaster, serving Madison, Jackson, Estill, Rockcastle, and Garrard counties. Dental care is offered at select locations and may include exams, cleanings, x-rays, fillings, crowns, and root canal treatment, with fees set on a sliding scale for patients who qualify. The locations page at https://whitehouseclinics.com lists each office; call the one nearest you and ask which sites currently take new dental patients.
Sterling Health Care is the community health center serving Montgomery, Bath, Menifee, and nearby counties. Its Montgomery Dental Center at 635 Maysville Rd in Mt. Sterling can be reached at 859-498-1215, and a second dental office operates in Carlisle in Nicholas County at 859-405-4024. As a federally funded health center, it treats patients regardless of ability to pay, with a sliding fee discount for those who qualify. The website is https://sterlinghealthky.org.
Nelson County Community Clinic at 300 W John Fitch Ave in Bardstown is a nonprofit clinic where dentists and hygienists, some of them volunteers, may provide cleanings, fillings, and preventive exams to low-income, uninsured, and publicly insured patients. Appointments are limited, so call ahead at 502-349-5990.
Mission Frankfort Clinic at 201 St. Clair St in Frankfort is a volunteer-run free clinic for people who are uninsured or have very low income. Volunteer dentists have served the clinic in the past; call 502-227-4216 to ask whether dental appointments are currently available before going.
Northern Kentucky
HealthPoint Family Care has served northern Kentucky since 1990 and provides dental care alongside medical, vision, and behavioral health services. The network's offices in the Covington and Newport area include dental clinics, and patients without insurance are charged on a sliding scale based on income. Services may include check-ups, cleanings, dentures, oral cancer screenings, and gum treatment, with referrals for specialty care. The main number is 859-655-6100, and locations are listed at https://www.healthpointfc.org.
Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Kentucky is served mainly by federally funded community health center networks. Each treats patients with Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, or no insurance at all, with sliding fee discounts for people who qualify. Because dental departments open and close at individual offices, always call to confirm which site can see you.
UK North Fork Valley Community Health Center at 750 Morton Blvd in Hazard is operated in connection with the University of Kentucky and includes a dental clinic that may handle exams, fillings, and extractions, including some urgent tooth problems. Call 606-439-1559. Details are on the UK Dentistry site at https://dentistry.uky.edu.
Kentucky Mountain Health Alliance runs the Little Flower Clinic at 279 E Main St in Hazard, where dental care may include cleanings, fillings, fluoride, extractions, and treatment for children. The clinic has a reputation locally for working in urgent dental cases, so call early in the day at 606-487-9505 if you are in pain.
Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation is one of the oldest community health center networks in the state, operating since 1971 across Letcher, Harlan, Owsley, and Perry counties. Its Whitesburg medical and dental clinic at 226 Medical Plaza Lane, reached at 606-633-4871, anchors a network that has also provided dental care at offices in Booneville and in the city of Cumberland in Harlan County. The website is https://www.mtncomp.org.
Big Sandy Health Care serves the Big Sandy region of far eastern Kentucky. Its Mud Creek Clinic at 7629 KY-979 in Grethel in Floyd County includes a dental office where fillings and extractions may be available; call 606-587-2800. The network operates additional health center sites in the region, so ask which locations currently offer dental.
PrimaryPlus is a community health center network in northeastern Kentucky with a dedicated dental center at 211 KY-59 in Vanceburg in Lewis County, reached at 606-796-9511. Cleanings, extractions, and care for children and seniors may be available, and the network serves patients from surrounding counties as well.
Grace Health covers a stretch of southeastern Kentucky that few other dental programs reach. Dental clinics operate at its Corbin medical campus at 14662 N US Highway 25E, at the Hyden clinic in Leslie County, and at the Manchester clinic in Clay County, with services that may range from cleanings and fillings to root canal treatment. The main number is 606-526-9005, and the website is https://gracehealthky.org.
Bowling Green and western Kentucky
The Dental Clinic, a Med Center Health program, provides low-cost dental care in Bowling Green for people without private dental insurance who meet income guidelines. The clinic at 740 E 10th Ave offers basic care such as exams, fillings, and extractions; call 270-901-0629 to ask whether you qualify. Through an endowment, Med Center Health has also periodically funded orthodontic care for children of families with financial need in the Bowling Green area. Details are at https://medcenterhealth.org.
Community Dental Clinic in Owensboro, operated in cooperation with UofL Dental Care since 2024, provides basic dental services at 2811 New Hartford Rd for low-income individuals and families in the Owensboro area, including patients with Medicaid and patients with no dental coverage. Call 270-691-6205. The University of Louisville also runs a community dental practice in Paducah, described with the dental schools in the next section.
UK Dentistry West Regional Clinic operates inside the Marshall County Health Department at 267 Slickback Road in Benton, bringing University of Kentucky dental care to the far western end of the state. Call 270-527-8441.
Kentucky's dental schools treat the public
Dental schools are among the most dependable low-cost options in any state, because supervised students provide care at reduced fees and the clinics have high capacity. Appointments take longer than at a private office and a screening visit comes first, but the quality of supervision is high.
University of Kentucky College of Dentistry in Lexington treats adults and children at its clinics on and near the UK medical campus, including a student clinic where supervised dental students provide reduced-cost care, and the Turfland clinic at 2195 Harrodsburg Rd. Call 859-323-3368 for help choosing a clinic, or 859-323-6525 for the student clinic directly. Kentucky Medicaid is among the accepted coverage types. The patient care site is https://dentistry.uky.edu.
University of Louisville School of Dentistry runs student clinics at 501 S. Preston St in Louisville, where care teams of supervised students provide cleanings, fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, dentures, and more, at costs lower than private practice. Kentucky Medicaid and KCHIP are accepted in the student clinics, and a dental hygiene clinic offers reduced-cost cleanings on the school calendar. New patients start with a screening appointment; call 502-852-5096.
The school also operates community dental practices in Elizabethtown, Owensboro, Paducah, and Shelbyville, which serve Medicaid, insured, and uninsured patients closer to home. Locations and details are at https://dentalcare.louisville.edu.
Community colleges with dental hygiene programs are another low-fee option in some Kentucky towns: their supervised student clinics provide cleanings and preventive care only, follow the school calendar, and book far ahead, so call the college directly to ask.
Donated Dental Services in Kentucky
Dental Lifeline Network Kentucky coordinates the Donated Dental Services program, in which volunteer dentists and dental labs donate comprehensive treatment. The program serves people who cannot afford care and who have a permanent disability, are age 65 or older, or are medically fragile. It is not for emergencies, treatment can take time to arrange, and applications are accepted only from certain Kentucky counties at any given time, so check the current county list before applying at https://dentallifeline.org/kentucky/.
Kentucky Medicaid and dental care
Kentucky Medicaid covers dental care in full for children, through regular checkups and treatment. For adults, current adult coverage is limited but includes oral exams, emergency visits, x-rays, extractions, fillings, and dentures. Adult dental rules may change, so confirm what your plan covers before scheduling treatment. Each Medicaid member's dental care runs through their managed care plan, and the member services number on your card can name dentists in your area who take your plan.
The state also keeps a searchable list of enrolled providers at https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dms/dpi/Pages/Provider-Directory.aspx and this site has a guide to dentures and dental coverage through Medicaid. If you are uninsured, you can check whether you qualify for Medicaid on the guide to free or low cost health insurance in Kentucky.
More ways to find a dentist you can afford
The federal government's health center locator at https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ can be filtered for dental services and will show every federally supported clinic near your address, which is useful in counties this page does not name. The Kentucky Dental Association offers a find-a-dentist tool and information on charitable dental care at https://www.kyda.org/ and the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics lists volunteer clinics, some with dental programs, at https://nafcclinics.org/. Your county health department can also point you to nearby low-cost dental options.
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