Since it opened in 1985, the Dr. William Roy Mercy Dental Clinic, housed at Hope for the Inner City’s campus in East Chattanooga, has empowered Chattanooga's poor to afford valuable dental care.

This vision, first cast by the clinic’s late founder, is alive today in the devoted service of Dr. Roy’s colleagues in the Chattanooga Area Dental Society, such as Dr. James Kimball.

A Tradition of Service

“It’s up to us to carry on Dr. Roy’s tradition,” says Dr. Kimball, who has been a regular volunteer at the clinic for eight years, and whose career witnesses his continual care for the poor.

After graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, Dr. Kimball began practicing for the Tennessee Department of Health. He served for nine years through a mobile dental clinic. He also visited state schools in rural counties, offering dental care to needy children through the Head Start program. But it was his concern for the dental needs of poor adults that brought Dr. Kimball to the Mercy Dental Clinic.

Reaching Those in Need

While Tennessee’s Medicaid program covers the dental care needs of poor children, displaced adults have limited access to basic dental services. Many bounce between overcrowded public health departments and the short-term solutions of emergency rooms, succumbing to what Dr. Kimball calls “a vicious cycle.”

But through his partnership with the Mercy Dental Clinic, Dr. Kimball can satisfy the desires of Chattanooga's afflicted (Isaiah 58:10), and see the good news of re- lease shine in the hearts and mouths of his patients.

“It is nice to provide people with the best dentistry available.”