 "Photo: Courtesy of The College of Dentistry")
Ohio State's College of Dentistry has devised a way to provide oral health care for children who are unable to see a dentist - bring the dentist's office to them.
The College of Dentistry, in collaboration with Columbus Children's Hospital, the Columbus Health Department and Columbus Public Schools, will sponsor the new Dental Health Outreach Mobile Experience Coach, which will bring dental care to 4,500 students annually in 30 Columbus public schools, according to a College of Dentistry press release.
The coach is funded by a three-year, $658,434 grant from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation and will make its debut at West Mound Elementary School at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, according to the release.
Dr. Paul Casamassimo, chief of dentistry at Columbus Children's Hospital, said the bus also will become one of the outreach experiences for dentistry students under the Oral Health Improvement through Outreach project. The project is a $1.5 million grant program designed to change dental education by emphasizing work in the community and bringing more underrepresented students to the profession, according to the OSU College of Dentistry Web site.
They will likely spend one week of their senior year working on the coach, Casamassimo said.
Dr. Canise Bean, director of the project at the College of Dentistry, said the coach, which cost over $300,000, contains three dental chairs, digital X-ray machines, a wheelchair lift, overhead video screens to educate and entertain students and a small lab for sterilization and storage of dental tools.
Dentists will be able to perform all of the procedures of a normal dentist office, except for those that involve oral sedation or general anesthesia, said Dr. Ashok Kumar, OSU faculty member and full-time dentist on the bus.
One full-time dental hygienist and two full-time dental assistants will accompany Kumar on the bus.
Karla Case, principal of West Mound Elementary, said that the community and the students are thrilled about the new program.
Permission slips were distributed two weeks ago, and about 90 percent of students brought them back by last Friday, Case said.
"We're thrilled to have this service, and the parents are excited," she said. "We're hoping that the children with toothaches won't have to suffer with that pain anymore and will be able to focus on their schoolwork."
Students most in need of dental care were determined by the Columbus Health Department during their dental sealant program, when the department visits city schools and applies dental sealant to children in need, Casamassimo said.
The idea for the coach began about six years ago when the Columbus Dental Task Force was formed, but construction could not start until a grant was received from Osteopathic Heritage Foundation almost 14 months ago, Bean said.
"We recognized that access to oral health care is the number one unmet health care need in the state," she said.
The task force felt they could be of most help to children because they can be treated at school, Bean said.
"We are seeing many kids that have dental needs that really could be addressed in a preventative nature," she said. "We would like to press upon the students that we do see how important preventative care is."
The coach will cost about $200,000 per year to operate, which will quickly exhaust the grant from Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, Bean said.
"We're hoping that we'll be able to generate some revenue through providing services to the children," she said. "We'll be able to bill third parties, like Medicaid. We're also hoping that there will be others that will see the good that we are doing and will decide to support us in some financial matter."
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