04/13/2026
📣𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞📣
𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 & 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑯𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
[TORRINGTON, CT] Community Health & Wellness Center (CHWC) announced on Monday April 13, 2026 that Dental Services will be reinstated effective Monday, April 20, 2026 in the Torrington Health Center.
In February 2025, CHWC made the difficult decision to suspend dental services indefinitely due to significant financial shortfalls largely due to underfunding of its high-cost dental services by the state of Connecticut’s Medicaid program. Other factors such as the inability to compete with increasing market wages, workforce shortages and increasing prices for costly dental procedures contributed to the decision.
During the dental hiatus, Chief Executive Officer Joanne Borduas worked closely with advocacy groups representing Federally Qualified Health Centers to address low reimbursement rates at the state level. After months of negotiations, an agreement was reached in July 2025 to provide Connecticut’s 17 Federally Qualified Health Centers with $80 million in adjustments over the next three years to align to 2023 costs.
Following the state’s decision, CHWC’s leadership team evaluated the existing Dental program to determine how and when to reinstate services.
“The decision to suspend dental services was not an easy one to make, and it left a gap for our patients seeking dental care.” said Borduas, “Luckily, we were able to work with UConn Health Centers’ dental clinic to help fill the very important need for oral care for our patient population. Bringing back this service is an essential goal for us in order to provide fully integrated healthcare for the whole person and not letting our patients fall short of their healthcare goals.”.
Heading the Dental Department at CHWC will be Dr. Ting Luo. Dr. Luo has an extensive career spanning from time served in the US Army as a dental officer, to hospitals and health centers, and most recently as the civilian dentist at the US Coast Guard Base in Boston for ten years.
As the dental department reopens, services will look a little different. CHWC will offer routine exams, cleanings, X-rays, fillings, simple extractions, fluoride treatments, scaling and root planning, and sealants. More extensive procedures like bridges, root canals and denture care will be evaluated for referral to community partners.
Dental services will be available at the Torrington Health Center Monday through Thursday from 8:30am until 7pm to start. A date to resume dental services in Winsted is yet to be determined.
CHWC participates with Guardian, Aetna, Delta Dental, and Medicaid and is currently in the process of finalizing contracts with Cigna, Liberty, Anthem, and United Healthcare which are expected to be accepted in the near future. Financial assistance through a sliding fee scale is available for patients who qualify.
“We have already received calls asking for appointments.” said Borduas “As word gets out into the community, many of our former and new patients are calling to inquire about scheduling appointments. We are happy to be able to offer dental services again.”.
CHWC will begin seeing Dental patients on April 20, 2026. To make an appointment, call 860-489-0931.
