Metropolitan Community Health Services has asked Beaufort County to support the nonprofit’s dental clinic.

At the June 1 meeting, MCHS representative Carol Taylor requested $250,000 from the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners to help fund the new dental clinic, which has been overrun with patients since its opening on Feb. 19. The request is based on a combination of factors: the demand for dental services; a federally assigned sliding payment scale based on income and by which the clinic must abide; and low Medicaid reimbursement, all of which have meant the dental clinic is currently operating in the red, according to Taylor. Taylor was accompanied to the meeting by MCHS Executive Director Michael McDuffie and the clinic’s dentist, Dr. David Dillard.

Dillard spoke to commissioners about the distressing state of dental health among those who haven’t been able to afford regular dental care.

“What I’m seeing — I’m seeing children who have abscesses, who have very bad dental care. I’m removing teeth that have only been in their mouths for two years,” Dillard said.

The need for low-cost dental care is evident in the number of people who have come through the Washington clinic, according to Taylor.

“From Feb. 19 to Saturday, we have treated over 600 patients,” Taylor told commissioners, adding that the clinic is only open one or two days a week.

Because of the number of patients, and lack of dental care, the clinic is providing $45,000 worth of services monthly, she said. While Medicaid does reimburse the clinic, reimbursement takes 60 to 90 days, and the reimbursement rate is very low, due to the state legislature’s choice not to expand Medicaid, she said.

Taylor said many patients, even when faced with a severely reduced cost for a procedure, don’t have the means to pay for services.

“The patients that we serve — if I tell a person $2,500, they look at me scratching their heads, or crying,” Taylor said.

Previously, Taylor had requested $350,000 to fund the clinic, but reduced the request at the June 1 meeting.

Commissioner Jerry Langley made a motion to commit $250,000 to the clinic, but the motion failed, as several commissioners expressed the need for further discussion about the issue.

“We want to get together in small groups and come back on June 15 and come back with an answer for you,” said Board Chairman Gary Brinn.

The June 15 date represents the public hearing for the county’s 2015-16 budget. The meeting will be held at the County Administrative Offices, 121 W. Third St., Washington, at 6 p.m.