PEORIA, Ill. – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin was in Peoria on Tuesday to announce federal funding earmarked for OSF HealthCare’s new Dental Surgery Center.
“I was able to secure $2 million to basically redesign and build the most modern facility for pediatric dentistry in this region of the state,” Durbin said.
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center President Mike Wells says the project will allow local patients to receive specialized dental procedures here at home, saving them from long trips to Chicago or St. Louis and drastically cutting down on months-long wait times.
“Right now, a child or an adult will have to wait nine months or longer for procedures that require sedation. With this appropriation and the expansion that we’ll be implementing, it will be one week,” Wells said.
The Dental Surgery Center will cost $5 million to complete, with $3 million coming from OSF.
OSF Director of Community Outreach Amanda Sutphen says the new facility will open in approximately 18 months. It is being built on the site of OSF’s current small Dental Clinic in the Forest Park Building on the OSF Campus.
Sutphen says opened, the Dental Surgery Center will greatly increase the number of patients they can see completely free of charge in Peoria.
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