Marillac Health will soon be able to offer oral health care to many more Mesa County residents through a $59,000 grant from the Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation.

The funding will go to hire a denturist — a professional who makes dentures — and will free up nearly 2,500 appointment slots every year, said Jacque Pipe, associate director of development at Marillac.

Marillac will become the first federally qualified health center in Colorado to hire a denturist, which caught the eye of Delta Dental's grant committee.

"They are really groundbreaking in creating this position and approaching oral health in this fashion," said Amy Maillet, spokeswoman for the Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation. "This position and grant will have a tremendous impact across the whole community."

Making dentures is a time-consuming process that takes six appointments over the course of 12 weeks.

"In the past, our dentists have always done all of those appointments and that ties up our four dentists from being able to see new patients and handle emergency visits," Pipe said.

A dedicated denturist will mean that there are more appointments for regular dental visits as well as a faster time frame for getting dentures, Pipe said, with the wait time shaved down to about nine weeks.

Dentures are in high demand at Marillac because many older patients are on fixed incomes, Pipe said, and need an affordable option for dental care.

Marillac's grant is part of a $3.4 million funding boost that Delta Dental awarded to 29 health care organizations across Colorado.

The foundation is working to better understand health equity, said Director of Programs Megan Wilson.

"The grant-making opportunity is a way for us to open up funding in a space where communities can come tell us what their local community needs," Wilson said.

There were 62 organizations that applied for funding, Maillet said, which spoke to the need for oral health funding across Colorado.

"We came to really appreciate that local communities are the best ones to know what their challenges are and really innovative solutions to those challenges," Maillet said.