The Macon County dental clinic had been running profitably until it started a denture program. Now, it may have to shut down. Saith the Macon News:
When the program was first introduced as a possibility, the program was thought to be a break-even program. But each year, the cost to maintain the program has increased. The first year the county’s dental clinic offered dentures, 49 patients were serviced at a cost of $14,000, The following year, 73 patients were seen and cost $20,000. Last year, lab costs increased to $26,000 and 68 patients were seen. By the third year of the denture program, not only was the dental clinic providing dentures for new patients, but additional lab costs are added to service and repair the patients who had been provided dentures in the previous years.
