A San Francisco dental clinic serving low-income HIV/AIDS and other special needs patients will close June 30. The University of the Pacific's Advanced General Dentistry (AGD) site is closing after 16 years because reimbursement rates for Denti-Cal, dental coverage offered by California's Medi-Cal program, have not risen along with the increasing cost of business, said Dr. Richard Fredekind, UOP's associate dean for clinical services.

About 19 percent of Ryan White money UOP receives is directed to AGD, though the grant is "not even close" to covering expenses, Fredekind said.

"We're doing as much as we can to get people placed elsewhere," Fredekind said. UOP began notifying patients of the closure in March, he said.

But most alternative providers listed on AGD's Web site, when contacted, said they are not accepting new clients.

"Cuts to Denti-Cal and reductions in reimbursement rates make it difficult for private practitioners to provide services," said Deborah Elam, executive director for the San Francisco Dental Society, which will try to assist AGD patients. "A lot of dentists take Medi-Cal, but don't want anyone to know."

Asked if dental services could be taken up by another UOP clinic, Fredekind said in an e-mail: "Yes, this is possible. We are working with the Department of Public Health on this."

"Now that AGD is closing, my understanding is that we are the only clinic left in Northern California who will see these patients," Dr. Anthony Pogrel, a University of California-San Francisco professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery, said of the school's General Practice Residency clinic. It has a six-month waiting list and is not accepting new patients.

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