That philosophy guided him during many years in private practice in Pikeville, Kentucky. It continued to guide him over the past six years as dental director for Red Bird Dental Clinic in Beverly, Kentucky. And since August 2024, it has guided him in his new role as the director of the University of Louisville School of Dentistry practice in Paducah, Kentucky.

We interviewed Dr. Collins about his new role and his passion for helping people – especially those for whom dental care plays a key role in making a lasting change in their lives.

What did you learn working with the population at Red Bird do you take with you to patients in western Kentucky?
The two areas have a lot in common. It’s the same population. They’re underserved. They don’t have dental insurance. Many are in recovery. This is what I’ve done for the past 30 years – helping the underserved or the people that didn’t have access to it or didn’t have the ability to pay.

How did you become involved in treating patients in recovery?
I started treating recovery patients in 2010. At first I started just seeing general recovery patients, but then later I got to work with patients that were in-house. Especially the female patients who had children or were pregnant – it really hit my heart.

How does dental care transform lives for people who are in recovery?
First, remember that drug addiction is not for one or two years. It’s a span of several years. Often when someone is dealing with drug addition, their dental hygiene is not very good. They tend
to consume a lot of citric acid soft drinks and it decays the teeth.

You can send a patient through recovery but if you don’t address what people see, they’re stigmatized as still being an addicted patient – so it’s crucial that we fix oral health problems with this group.

We recently made dentures for a woman in recovery who had a lot of decayed teeth. Afterwards, she immediately got a management job at a local store. She couldn’t get a job before her new dentures. People just wouldn’t hire her.

Do you see that getting dental problems taken care of helps with overall health, too?
You do, yes. I had one patient who was pregnant and in recovery. She’d been on antibiotics for around six or seven months with abscessed teeth. It got to the point that antibiotics weren’t working,
and she was within one month of delivery. So I, along with a team of UofL School of Dentistry students, took several teeth out just to get her out of danger and get her baby out of danger.

The Paducah dental clinic has served thousands of patients since it opened about five years ago – but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the need, isn’t it?
It is. Although we see a lot of patients from Paducah and McCracken County, this location really is drawing patients from about five to seven counties. There’s a huge issue with access to care for people who have Medicaid or don’t have the ability to pay.

What would you say to people who are thinking of making an appointment but they’re anxious about going to a dentist – especially if it’s been a long time since they had dental care?
We’re not going to do anything the first day. Come in and meet us, talk to us, get to know us. We’ll go at your pace.

“We need more dentists in the rural areas, and I like having the chance to carry that message to [students].”
- Dr. Bill Collins

As part of this job, you are treating patients and also teaching students. What do you think is the most rewarding part of the teaching part of your job?
It’s when you see a student and that light bulb turns on and they get it. They realize why they’re here and what they’re doing. It’s not all about money anymore. It’s about seeing their patient happy. That’s when everything clicks.

I also hope I’m educating the next rural dentist. We need more dentists in the rural areas, and I like having the chance to carry that message to them.

Compassionate Care funds for patients at the Paducah location are provided in part by a gift from the Delta Dental of Kentucky Foundation.

This article is from the Spring/Summer 2025 edition of the ULSD newsletter

May 15, 2025