Community Collaboration Gives Special Care Training to Dental Students
The Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDOH) will work with Hacienda HealthCare and the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona to address the shortage of dentists trained in special care dentistry and treat special care patients.
Led by a $75,000 grant from the BHHS Legacy Foundation, ASDOH will provide oral care to 20 individuals with special needs referred by Hacienda HealthCare and 25 dialysis patients referred by the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona. ASDOH's Special Care Dentistry units in Mesa and Glendale will provide the services. The initiative will provide training in special care dentistry to 58 students and six residents.
"We have a unique opportunity to train our students and nurture confident and compassionate oral care workers who can provide greater access to care for individuals with medically complex conditions," said ASDOH Dean Jack Dillenberg.
Dr. James P. Lund Memorial Clinic Continues Legacy of Teaching Through Service
An innovative partnership between McGill University Faculty of Dentistry and Welcome Hall Mission (WHM) has created a clinic in honor of Dr. James P. Lund, past McGill Dean, to build on the Faculty of Dentistry's approach to teaching through service in the community.
The new Jim Lund Dental Clinic, housed at WHM in Montreal's St. Henri neighborhood, officially opened on February 11. It will provide free basic dental care to low-income families, the homeless, the elderly, the disabled, and recent immigrants and refugees-who all turn to WHM for assistance.
The Faculty of Dentistry's service activities include a mobile clinic, low-cost services at the Montreal General Hospital, and pediatric dental care at the Montreal Children's Hospital.
"There are many well-recognized barriers to accessing dental care-financial, geographic, physical and cultural, for example," said Faculty of Dentistry Dean Paul J. Allison. "When I became Dean in 2008, I wanted to expand upon our existing outreach programs and create permanent satellite clinics to better serve those who would otherwise fall through the cracks."
The Jim Lund Dental Clinic is open three days a week and serves about 12 patients by referral per week. McGill dental students and residents provide the treatment, overseen by McGill faculty, while WHM provides the space, a secretary, and a dental assistant.
The clinic is named in memory of Dr. Lund, McGill's long-time Dean of Dentistry, who died suddenly in December 2009. Dr. Lund was a passionate advocate of quality dental care for all members of society, and it was during his tenure that the Faculty's outreach program was established.
UCSF Dentistry Named 2011 America's Toothfairy Affiliate of the Year by National Children's Oral Health Foundation
The National Children's Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF) has named the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry as 2011 America's Toothfairy Affiliate of the Year, in recognition of "partners that have consistently demonstrated the highest level of commitment to eliminating pediatric dental disease in their communities."
In a letter to Dean John D.B. Featherstone, National Children's Oral Health Foundation President and CEO Ms. Fern Ingber writes, "Since joining the National Children's Oral Health Foundation Affiliate network in 2008, UCSF has exhibited exemplary leadership and outstanding delivery of critical oral health services to our nation's most underserved children. Your tireless efforts and innovative programs serve as a model of excellence for all NCOHF Affiliates."