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Dental school awarded grant to replace van
A young patient gets a cavity filled during a visit to the UB School of Dental Medicine’s Mobile Dental Unit, which serves children in Chautauqua County.
The School of Dental Medicine has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that will allow it to replace its aging Mobile Dental Unit (MDU) and continue providing oral care to the children of Chautauqua County.
The UB MDU was one of 278 school-based programs across the country to be awarded Health and Human Services grants designed to help clinics expand and provide more health care services to the underserved through the Affordable Care Act.
For the past 14 years, the School of Dental Medicine has served the oral health needs of Chautauqua County’s children through its school-based MDU van, which is staffed by three UB pediatric dentists, a dental hygienist and a dental assistant. The staff has provided care during 38,000 patient visits since 1997.
Michael Glick, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, says the grant complements the dental school’s pursuit of excellence in all its endeavors.
“This grant directly supports the school’s mission to improve quality of life by leading innovation in oral health education, research and service,” Glick says. “The new MDU will enable us to better train the next generation of health care providers, while increasing awareness of the impact oral health has on a person’s overall well being. We’re humbled to play a role in improving the quality of life throughout the Western New York community.”
With the grant funding, the dental school will purchase a larger, state-of-the-art MDU equipped with three or four dental chairs to replace its current two-chair van, doubling the MDU’s capacity to treat patients and providing more help to families that have limited access to dental care.
The new van will be about 45 feet long and have approximately 600 square feet of clinical space specific to dentistry, including a sterilization center, a patient waiting/intake/education area and a panoramic X-ray facility.
The dental operatories, or procedure areas, will be equipped with computer hardware to access electronic oral health records, improving security, compliance, quality and efficiency of care.
The van also will feature both a stair entry and powered chair lift, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Dental school administrators estimated it will take about a year to design and build the van to the necessary specifications.
Joseph Bernat, associate dean and chair of the Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry, explains that oral health is important to the physical well being of children, and UB’s MDU provides much-needed services.
“We know that dental problems are health problems that affect children’s performance in the classroom. Because of this grant, we will be able to continue to provide dental care to kids in need, which will improve their overall health and quality of life,” Bernat says.
James Harris, the dental school’s chief financial officer, says that with the new MDU’s increased capacity, UB dental staff will be able to see more children in Chautauqua County and possibly add pilot programs in other counties.
“We have been working with the Westminster Foundation on a possible partnership to bring dental care to their Promise Neighborhoods in Buffalo,” Harris says.
The Westminster Foundation is a local group of business, education and community experts, funded by M&T Bank, dedicated to improving education and ending poverty.
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