LEWISTON – A low-income dental provider hopes its recent move from Auburn will enable it to help more people.

“We really had outgrown our old space, so this is all very welcome,” said Kathy Gregory, supervisor of Community Dental on Main Street in Lewiston. The office took its first customers Wednesday morning after a grand-opening celebration and ribbon-cutting Tuesday.

The new office has twice as many dentist chairs, a hands-free sterilization station for cleaning equipment and an area to manufacture small dental appliances.

In all, there are three chairs for dental hygienists and four dental laboratories for drilling and other treatments.

More space also means more dentists, Gregory said. The old Auburn office had room for one dentist on staff per day. The new office has room for two dentists per day, and a staff of five dentists total working part-time in the Lewiston branch.

“Some work part time here, part time in another branch,” Gregory said. “Some are partly retired, and just work a day or two a week to keep their licenses up. And some are new dentists, working here to pay off student loans. So we have a really good mix of new and old dentists.”

The company focuses on providing low-income dental care. The company accepts MaineCare insurance and will work out a sliding scale fee based on household income.

“If someone wants it, it’s one of the first things they can fill out when they come in, along with their health screening,” Gregory said.

Community Dental operates five branches in addition to the Lewiston office – in Portland, Saco, Farmington, Sanford and Peaks Island.

The Lewiston office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.