UofL Dental Clinic opens in west Louisville's Goodwill Opportunity Center

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville celebrated its newly opened UofL School of Dentistry practice with a ribbon cutting Friday.

UofL opens new west Louisville dental clinic at the Goodwill Opportunity Center. This image is from a ribbon cutting on May 17, 2024. (WDRB image)

The new clinic is inside the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center at 28th and Broadway. This clinic is designed to make getting to the dentist a little easier and more accessible for many Louisvillians.

"We have people on a waiting list on the main campus that really live in this zip code, and they're on a waiting list. We're going to try to trim that waiting list down really quickly," said Sherry Babbage Melisizwe, an associate clinical professor.

Babbage Melisizwe said this practice will fill a "huge gap that has been that has been left by the loss of all the brick and mortar dental practices that used to be in west Louisville."

She said many know her as "Dr. B" and she moved from eastern Kentucky to west Louisville in the 1960s. She said after graduating from dental school, she went into practice in west Louisville beginning in 1981 and now works with students at UofL's School of Dentistry in the clinic.

"People have this stigma about having students see them. Well trust me, our students go through two whole years of training before they ever really get to see a live patient. A lot of plastic teeth. And then they get to the real, live patient," she said. "And when you're at the dental school, somebody like me is watching you."

Dr. Ashton Samuels-Powell is the clinic director at this new location inside the Opportunity Center. She said she previously worked with Babbage Melisizwe on 25th and Broadway.

"I was happy to move back down to this community as well to be able to serve this community and be able to provide care to this community," said Samuels-Powell.

The UofL School of Dentistry hopes the new clinic will help west Louisville and give a new generation of dental students an opportunity to work alongside licensed dentists in their clinical rotations.

Samuels-Powell said this location opened in March and has already been seeing patients.

"So far so good," she said. "Patients are coming in they're having a great time, we're having a great time here as well."

According to Babbage Melisizwe, the capabilities here span far beyond routine cleanings.

"We are going to be doing root canals here, some, not all, but some extractions, some wisdom teeth, all fillings, dentures," she said.

Babbage Melisizwe said anything not able to be completed at this location can be easily referred to the other clinic on South Preston. She said patient information can be carried over.

"All their records show up at our main location, so the oral surgeon is able to pull up the X-rays that we took and it just speeds things up," she said.

According to a release, as with other UofL community dental practices, this location "is designed to serve people with unmet dental care needs, including individuals who have Medicaid or no dental insurance."

Aside from this dental clinic, the Goodwill Opportunity Center is designed to be a "one-stop shop" for resources including healthcare, workforce training, career coaching, youth mentoring, second-chance banking and restorative justice services. It is expected to serve more than 50,000 people each year.

To make an appointment at the dental clinic, call 502-852-9663.

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