Home → Our Community Commitment care that gives back

Every smile in East Salem deserves the same dentist

Q: How does my visit help if I'm not on OHP?

Medicaid reimbursements are real but modest. A practice that welcomes OHP without limits stays healthy because neighbors with PPO plans, memberships, and cash visits choose it too. When you book here, you're choosing an office where your dentistry — priced about 20% below the typical Salem office — also keeps the doors open for families who have far fewer options.

Many offices quietly turn away OHP and Medicaid families. We built this practice to do the opposite, and to make every visit, from every patient, part of keeping that promise.

💚OHP welcomedno waiting list, no caps 🤝One standard of caresame doctors, same materials

The quiet gap in Salem dentistry

If you've never carried an Oregon Health Plan card, this may be invisible to you: finding a dentist who takes OHP, and treats you like every other patient — is hard. Some offices don't accept it at all. Others accept it on paper but keep the appointments scarce, the welcome lukewarm, or the "Medicaid schedule" on different days than everyone else. Families end up driving across town, waiting months, or just… not going. The people with the fewest options end up with the least care.

Dr. Vasquez watched it happen to her own grandmother — a Spanish-speaking abuela on OHP who drove 40 minutes because no nearby office "felt comfortable." That story is why this practice exists.

our pledge, in writing —

One schedule. One standard. Everyone.

No waiting list for OHP — if there's an opening, it's yours, whatever coverage you carry
No "Medicaid days" — OHP families book the same slots, see the same doctors, get the same materials
No second-tier dentistry — the crown, the lab, and the chair time are identical for every patient
Care in your language — Spanish every day, from the first phone call to the written prices
Kids on OHP are a priority — their coverage is broader than adults' and we help families use every bit of it

What we do beyond the chair

👶

Free first visits for kids under 3Every child, every coverage because a friendly first visit at age one prevents a lifetime of dental fear and untreated cavities.

📞

Free emergency triage by phoneCall in pain and we'll tell you honestly what to do tonight, even if the answer doesn't involve us. The emergency exam itself is $89 flat for uninsured neighbors.

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Free benefit checks & OHP renewal helpWe verify your coverage before every visit and flag it if your OHP renewal is at risk — before you lose it, not after.

🖨️

Free bilingual patient guidesOur printable emergency cards and care sheets are free to download, print, and share — English and Spanish, no email address required.

🏷️

Fees set ~20% below the typical office — on purposeNot a promotion. Our standing price list is structurally lower so that "no insurance" doesn't mean "no dentist."

If you have private insurance: your visit does more here

Here's the honest economics. Medicaid reimbursements are real but modest, which is exactly why so many offices limit or refuse them. A practice that welcomes OHP without caps stays healthy one way: neighbors with PPO plans, memberships, and cash visits choose it too.

So when you bring your Delta Dental or MODA plan here, two things happen. You get excellent dentistry priced about 20% below the typical Salem office — same materials, same lab, smaller bill. And your visit helps keep our chairs open to the family in the next room who had nowhere else to go. You don't pay extra to make that possible. You just show up.

We think that's a better deal than a fancier waiting room: great dentistry that quietly gives back, every single day.

Why we don't call this charity

Because it isn't. Charity is occasional; this is how the practice is built. Nobody here is doing OHP families a favor. They're our patients, full stop. The retiree with a premium PPO plan and the mom presenting a blue Oregon Health ID card sit in the same chairs, see the same doctors, and hear the same unhurried explanations. The only difference is which forms we file afterward.

If you want to see what OHP actually covers and how it works here, our OHP guide lays it all out, and there's a versión en español too.

Questions about our commitment

Is the care different if I'm on OHP or Medicaid? +

No, and that's the whole point. Same doctors, same appointment slots, same materials, same lab. There is no separate schedule, no "Medicaid days," and no second-tier version of anything we do. The only thing that changes is the paperwork we file.

Do you limit how many OHP patients you accept? +

We don't run a waiting list for OHP, and we don't cap OHP appointments to a few slots a week the way some offices quietly do. Our schedule is one schedule. If there's an opening, it's yours — whatever coverage you carry.

I have private insurance — will I wait longer because you see everyone? +

No. We built our schedule around seeing everyone from day one, so it's not a squeeze. It's the design. PPO patients get the same same-day emergency access and the same on-time promise as everyone else.

How does my visit help if I'm not on OHP? +

Medicaid reimbursements are modest. That's why many offices limit them. A practice that welcomes OHP without caps stays healthy because neighbors with PPO plans, memberships, and cash visits choose it too. Booking here means your dentistry — priced about 20% below the typical Salem office — also keeps the doors open for families with fewer options.

How else can I support the mission? +

Three free ways: leave an honest review so neighbors searching "dentist that takes OHP" can find us, share our free printable guides (English and Spanish), and tell one person who's been avoiding the dentist that this office doesn't lecture. That's it. No donation jar.