Mobile Dental Unit
UB uses a rolling dental office to provide dental care for more than 3,000 children in Chautauqua County every year. You can pitch in.
UB's School of Dental Medicine has served the oral health care needs of children in Chautuaqua County for 15 years with its school-based mobile dental van. Now we’ve replaced the aging van with a much larger mobile dental unit (MDU), a full service, three-operatory dental office on a semi-trailer chassis. Just as the van traveled from school to school throughout Chautauqua County, this dental office on wheels will be moved to the same locations.
UB’s mobile dental program in Chautauqua County visits 24 schools, averaging 3,100 patient visits each year. The program is managed by pediatric and general dentists, a dental hygienist and dental assistant in the mobile clinic, and is supported with facilities, information technology and operational staff located at UB.
The new unit will allow the program to increase staffing and dramatically increase the number of children treated each year.
The mobile dental unit program will also conduct a pilot program in Erie County, operating at several Buffalo Public Schools.
The new mobile dental unit itself was funded in large part by a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation and the Lenna Foundation, both of Jamestown, NY made significant contributions to the project.
But now we need everyone’s support to help us provide these services. Specifically, gifts to the Mobile Dental Unit fund provide support for:
- clinical supplies
- educational materials
- trailer transportation
- staffing for free screenings
- equipment maintenance
You can give the children we serve no greater gift to their future well-being than your gifts to this program.