Medical experts identify senior citizens surviving on limited incomes as the social sector most vulnerable to dental woes that compromise their health and well-being.
For that reason a new dental clinic installed in Ajijic’s Centro de Salud is being specially geared to care for elderly patients.
The small oral health facility was inaugurated on Wednesday, December 17, with María del Sagrario Diáz, mother of Jalisco Governor Aristóteles Sandoval, on hand to help cut the ribbon.
Following the ceremony, Ajijic Town Administrator (Delegado) Hector España hosted a comida celebration at the waterfront park as a token of appreciation to the governor’s mother, government officials who turned up for the occasion and other project supporters.
The project arose last May as a joint initiative of Jalisco’s Ministry of Health (SSJ) and the community at large. Miguel Villaseñor Calvillo, SSJ supervisor of oral health, spearheaded the government’s role in the project, while España, his expat liaison Harry Bublin and fund-raising coordinator Tom Gladney took charge of getting locals on board to support the effort.
Díaz was named as the clinic’s godmother after she got involved a few months back, becoming an instrumental force in overcoming the inevitable delays related to government red tape.
The project entailed extensive remodeling at the health center to convert a storage room and small office space into a functional dental office. The state government invested 74,000 pesos to carry out the work. The SSJ will also provide the service of four dentists – including one who is fluent in English – as well as necessary dental tools and medical supplies.
Bublin and Gladney brought in an additional 44,000 pesos from a fundraising campaign to purchase the furnishings and equipment. The donations came from a number of generous expat residents and a local Mexican doctor. España kicked in another 24,500 pesos from proceeds of last month’s village fiestas. 
The new dental clinic is a pilot project that will serve as a model for upgrading oral health care services at community health centers elsewhere in Jalisco.
Villaseñor envisions it as a facility that primarily focuses on offering dental rehabilitation to seniors and preventive care to children and adolescents. He stresses, however, that services will be available free of charge to patients of any age.
Individuals who require bridge work, full or partial plates, corrective braces and other dental appliances will be able to acquire outsourced prostheses and other materials at cost through special arrangements with private sector suppliers.
The clinic will be open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the team of dentists taking turns at two five-hour shifts to attend to 16 patients per day. Oral surgeries will be scheduled on Sundays.
The Centro de Salud is located on the west side of town, at the Seis Esquinas intersection of Calle Ocampo and Alvaro Obregon.