# Rural Veterans Dental Care Act

This bill creates a test program to bring dental care directly to veterans living in rural areas where dental services are hard to find. Starting October 1, 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs will set up mobile dental clinics in remote communities to provide teeth cleaning, exams, and other dental treatments to veterans who might otherwise have to travel long distances to get care.

The program will use several different approaches to reach veterans in isolated areas. The VA can send out vans equipped with full dental equipment, set up temporary dental clinics in shipping containers or modular units at community health centers or rural health fairs, or use tents and temporary structures at VA outreach events. The VA will focus on areas that are more than 75 miles away from the nearest VA dental clinic, places where lots of veterans have untreated dental problems, and rural communities with large veteran populations. This means veterans in truly remote areas will be the priority.

The pilot program will run for three years, ending September 30, 2029. During that time, the VA will track how many veterans receive care, where the clinics operate, how much each method costs to run, and whether the program actually works well enough to keep going permanently. The VA will report back to Congress each year with these findings so lawmakers can decide if this is a good solution for rural veterans' dental care needs.