FOUNDED IN 1932
During the dire economic times of the 1930s, a dental surveyor with Long Beach Schools, Dr. Robert Anderson, reported an increasing prevalence of dental disease in our community’s school children. He was moved to provide accessible dental care to needy children; and in 1932, this dream became a reality when Dr. Anderson secured a trailer, converted it into a small dental clinic, and made his way from school to school. Dr. Anderson soon contacted the Tichenor-Orthopedic Board for support and the Clinic was then opened in an 8x10 foot room in the Community Hospital. In 1936, the Junior League of Long Beach helped relocate the Clinic from the Community Hospital to a Long Beach Unified School District bungalow, where school-based dental care and oral health education was provided, with support from the Junior League and Harbor Dental Society. In 1970, the Clinic moved into leased space on the campus of the Miller Children’s Hospital at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, joining other independent non-profit children’s health providers under the vision of Loraine Huntington Miller of treating the “whole child.”

Today, the Children’s Dental Health Clinic is an independent community-based 501(c)(3) organization serving more than 10,000 underserved children through 33,000 visits annually, and is the only all-inclusive safety-net, non-profit dental home in the Greater Long Beach and South Bay communities.

Over our 86-year history, we have evolved into a comprehensive, hospital-based facility on the campus of the Miller Children's Hospital in the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center (where we lease space), and a satellite clinic in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island.