The Connecticut Mission of Mercy was started in 2008 by the Connecticut Foundation for Dental Outreach, the America's Dentists Care Foundation and Connecticut State Dental Association. Fourteen other states participate in similar programs.

The clinics, which cost about $200,000 each, are paid for with money raised by the Mission of Mercy and moved each year to reach as many of the needy as possible. The first was held in Tolland.

Schreibman said about 95 percent of the patients are adults. Most have not visited a dentist in at least two years, and many have been without dental care for 10 years or more.

"The kids have access to the Husky Medicaid, which provides dental coverage," he said. "They can get care. It's the adults that have a problem getting care."

The clinic beginning Saturday morning at Wilby High School in Waterbury will have 18 chairs are set up for cleanings, 48 for fillings, 24 for dental surgery, six for pediatric dentistry and another six for root canals.

"We'll have people standing in line at 4 or 5 o'clock the day before the clinic opens," Schreibman said. "We ask them what services they would like. We don't force any services on anybody. Normally we can do one or two."

Nobody is asked whether they have insurance, but the clinic does provide education and outreach from federally qualified health centers and the state Department of Social Services in an attempt to get patients more permanent dental care.

Schreibman said organizers are hoping to eventually expand the program and hold several smaller clinics around the state in addition to the large annual clinic.