Here's a sobering fact to chew on.
Welsh Mountain Medical and Dental Center is launching a $930,000 expansion and renovation that will let it add 1,000 dental patients.
Yet, even after enlarging its dental-patient rolls by 20 percent, the New Holland clinic knows the need still will surpass its capacity.
"Every time we start to add patients, there are more people waiting in the wings," spokesman Fred Bogner said Tuesday.
"We're always getting inquiries. … It's shocking."
Nonetheless, determined to "keep plugging away," Welsh Mountain will break ground on the project at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Completion is set for December.
Welsh Mountain has a waiting list of more than 700 people wanting dental care there. Ninety percent of them are children.
More than half of the people on the list have never seen a dentist or can't remember the last time they visited one, said Bogner.
On paper, the extra capacity will erase the waiting list.
But experience has taught Welsh Mountain and other clinics in the area that when services are expanded, such lists replenish themselves quickly.
"The reality is there aren't enough dentists in the Lancaster County area to catch up," said Bogner.
The project will include a 1,300-square-foot addition for six new dental exam rooms, joining the seven already in the clinic.
To staff the extra rooms, Welsh Mountain is hiring an extra dentist, dental assistant and receptionist.
The new staff will be be paid for with a state Department of Health Community Primary Care Challenge Grant.
With the extra staff, Welsh Mountain will start offering an emergency dental-care clinic on the first and third Saturdays of the month, beginning Sept. 18. Hours will be 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Other aspects of Welsh Mountain's third building project in 11 years include:
• Installing a peaked roof to replace a flat roof.
• Replacing the electrical system and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
• Installing a back-up generator.
Welsh Mountain is a federally qualified health center founded in 1972 to serve its community, especially those facing barriers to obtaining care.