UB Dental School to Care For Underserved Children With Mobile Dental Clinic

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Children in Chautauqua County who may never have seen a dentist will get regular biannual checkups in the future in a mobile dental clinic made possible by a $160,000 grant to the UB School of Dental Medicine from the Gebbie Foundation, Inc., in conjunction with the foundation's early-childhood "Success by 6" initiative.

The 39-foot custom-made van with four fully-equipped dental exam rooms will begin circulating throughout the county next summer, stopping for 4-6 weeks at targeted preschools, Head Start Programs and locations recommended by "Success By 6." The rotation schedule will allow children to be seen twice a year, providing continuity of care.

Louis J. Goldberg, D.D.S., Ph.D., dean of the UB dental school, said the school appreciates greatly the Gebbie Foundation's generosity and reaffirmed the dental school's commitment to public service, particularly to underserved and unserved pediatric populations.

"Research has shown that dietary deficiencies during the developmental stage can result in congenital malformations of the hard tooth structures," Goldberg said. "These deficiencies contribute to gingival changes and periodontal problems as the children grow. This project will have a significant impact on the birth-to-6-year population, and will further the dental school's commitment to disease prevention.

"The development of alliances such as these among the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, local foundations, established health and education social programs and the practicing community of dentists are essential for meeting the significant oral health needs of the underserved," he stated.

Dianne Eisenhardt, director of the Gebbie Foundation's "Success by 6" program, said the goal of its Dental Access Task Team -- to improve access to dental services in Chautauqua County -- matched well the proposed program of the dental school.

The mobile clinic will be staffed by UB dental-school faculty, UB hygenists and dental assistants, and UB dental students who will intern on the van. "Success by Six" participants and children from preschool age through third grade will be eligible for dental care through the mobile clinic. The UB dental school expects to serve 3,000 Medicaid-eligible children the first year, increasing to a maximum of 5,000 by the third year of operation.

In addition to providing primary pediatric dental care, clinic staff will offer a prenatal nutrition and dental-education program to pregnant women, coordinated by Paul Creighton, D.D.S., UB clinical assistant professor of pediatric dentistry.

The clinic also will mount a special educational program to prevent "baby-bottle tooth decay," a condition prevalent in poor and underserved populations caused by putting babies to bed with a bottle filled with formula, milk, juice or sweetened liquid. This practice causes rapid decay and premature loss of the baby teeth, which can result in abnormal speech development, poor absorption of nutrients and crooked permanent teeth.

Beverly Spencer, assistant dean for community affairs in the UB dental school, said Chautauqua County was chosen as the locale for the rural mobile dental clinic because of the strong need.

"Our Western New York Oral Health Assessment showed that Chautauqua County had 30,500 medically underserved people, the largest number in rural Western New York," Spencer said. "There are 20,679 Medicaid patients in the county and less than a third had a dental appointment in the past year, many of which were for emergency care."

The mobile clinic and future UB dental-school rural initiatives will be monitored by an advisory board made up of community and UB representatives. Joseph Bernat, D.D.S, associate dean and chair of pediatric dentistry at the UB dental school, chairs the board, with Sebastian Ciancio, D.D.S., UB chair of periodontology, serving as vice chair. The other members are Dianne Eisenhart, director of the Gebbie Foundation's "Success by 6" initiative and Chautauqua County dentists Francis Palmer, Vincent Nalbone, Peter Masone, Robert Siegel and Mark Twichell.

The Gebbie Foundation is a private foundation established in 1964 with funds provided by the estates of two sisters, Marion Bertram Gebbie and Geraldine Gebbie Bellinger, in memory of their parents, Frank and Harriet Louise Gebbie. The foundation supports arts, educational institutions, hospitals, historical societies, libraries, human services and specific medical research in the Jamestown/Chautauqua County region.

Chautauqua County "Success by 6" is a collaborative early childhood initiative of the Gebbie Foundation, Inc., United Way of Southern Chautauqua County and the United Way of Northern Chautauqua County.