Public Radio for Alaska's Bristol Bay
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

BBAHC breaks ground on new dental clinic

Matt Martin/KDLG

The Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation's new dental clinic should be complete sometime next year.

Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation CEO Robert Clark, along with board members and other invited guests, wore white hard hats and scooped up piles of gravel with decorative shovels to signal the beginning of construction of the updated dental clinic.

Clark doesn’t expect there will be any shortage of patients for the 12 new dental chairs the facility will hold.

"Unfortunately people love their pop and ice cream, sugar and all the other stuff and don’t brush enough,” said Clark.

Clark says having the dental clinic centered in one location, instead of in the hospital and a small annex building, will make service easier for both patients and staff.

"Walking back and forth with paperwork and rainy days and snowy days, miserable days, slips and falls. We could be in one place with all good, modern, up to date equipment,” added Clark.

The location of the clinic close to the eroding cliff face of Kanakanak Beach has raised concerns. Clark is mindful of the erosion but says it’s an issue they are trying to deal with.

"We are in discussions with the Corp of Engineers to come up with a plan because government to government they should be able to protect government land," said Clark. "So we are hopeful that something can be remedied.”

The dental building should be open sometime next year.

Contact Matt Martin at 907-842-2200 or matt@kdlg.org.matt@kdlg.org