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MUSC, College of Dental Medicine Affiliation with
Community Health Care Programs: Mobile Dental
Van
Charles R. Hook, DMD
College of Dental Medicine
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Specific Aims:
- Provide dental care to residents in underserved areas
- Educate dental students by
providing care in community
settings
- Increase faculty awareness of the
community dental needs
- Provide opportunities for clinical
outreach research
- Sustain the program through fee
for service
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| Oral health has an impact on a person's
overall health. The rate of decayed and
missing teeth in a population can be
decreased through programs of education,
prevention, and treatment. In low income
populations, Medicaid pays for basic dental
care for children under 21 but only
emergency dental care for adults over 21.
In this program, dental students and faculty
will go to local schools and communities
with a mobile dental clinic to perform
dental examinations, provide preventive
education and dental treatment. The Duke
Endowment Fund has matched the Healthy
South Carolina Initiative Grant which
makes the purchasing and equipping of a
dental van possible. Three community
health care programs have been selected to
serve as a pilot. State and local dental
practitioners will be involved in the
delivery of dental services. The project not
only aims to provide dental care in
predominantly underserved areas, but also
to provide an educational experience in the
community for dental students, foster
faculty awareness of the health care needs
of the lower income population, and create a
base for dental outreach data and
assessment for research. The project will
be evaluated by surveys of providers and
patients and an assessment of the projected
decline in decayed and missing teeth in
patients. |
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