Covid-19 Relief for Dentists

During the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta Dental donated more than $23 million in total grants – and advance payments for care – to help dental practices hit hardest by pandemic-related closures.

More than 2,200 small, independent dental practices within Delta Dental’s statewide network received the financial support (1,436 grants and 809 advance claims payments) to help sustain the practices shut down for all non-emergency procedures.

Like other small businesses, independent dental practices struggled during the early months of the pandemic, with many being hit hard by financial strain – particularly for recently expanded practices, dentists and staff faced with dental education debt, start-up dental practices and rural practices located in smaller communities, many of which were already experiencing economic hardship.

In addition to the direct financial assistance, Delta Dental partnered with the Washington State Dental Association to help secure hundreds of thousands of face masks and other critical PPE for distributing to dentists statewide during this unprecedented time.

Dentists are a critical part of the state’s healthcare system, and this assistance helped to ensure dental practices could hit the ground running once statewide restrictions were lifted so that communities could resume access to the full range of quality dental care as soon as possible.