Mobile Dental Van Brings High Quality Oral Health Care to Young Children in Underserved Communities

February 15, 2007

Nutrition and Oral Health Play Vital Roles in Fight Against Obesity and Diabetes
Children Celebrate Van's "Birthday" for Dental Health Month

Contact: Ellen Lubell, The Children’s Aid Society, (w) 212-949-4938, (c) 917-854-6864
Emily Crossan, The Children’s Aid Society, (w) 917-286-1548, (c) 201-344-5742
Craig LeMoult, Columbia University, (w) 212-305-0820, (c) 212-920-9652

NEW YORK, February 15, 2007 – Head Start children (ages three to five) at The Children’s Aid Society’s Drew Hamilton Learning Center in Harlem today celebrated the sixth “birthday” of the agency’s mobile dental van, which is operated as a partnership between The Children’s Aid Society and the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center and supported by Crest. Today, several children were treated by the van’s dentist, and then they staged an original play about nutrition and health.

Children’s Aid’s original mobile dental van debuted in 1988 as a way to bring medical and dental services to homeless families living in midtown hotels during a severe city crisis. The current van, launched in February 2001, makes daily visits to different Head Start centers, day care centers and schools to treat young children in need of dental services, which include examinations, cleanings, fluoride treatments, lessons in dental hygiene and treatment of caries.

Surgeon General cited “silent epidemic”
According to the Surgeon General’s report released in May 2000, there is a “silent epidemic” of oral disease among poor Americans, especially “the disadvantaged and minority children found to be at greatest risk for severe medical complications resulting from minimal oral care and treatment.” According to the report, uninsured children are two-and-a-half times less likely to receive dental care than insured children. Also according to that report, barriers to oral health include the inability to pay for services out of pocket, problems of access that involve transportation and the need to take time off from work for health services.

“The mobile dental van is an important weapon in our fight to promote good oral health and total body health,” says William Weisberg, Ph.D., Associate Executive Director of The Children’s Aid Society. “It takes dental services to the children – they get the care they require and their parents needn’t lose time at work. It is also a critical tool in our efforts to educate children and parents about the value of a balanced diet and exercise in the fight against obesity and diabetes, two diseases that are affecting increasing numbers of children in our communities.”

Health education as well as dental services on van
The van sees primarily Head Start children in low-income communities in upper Manhattan and the Bronx, providing high quality dental care for free. No child is turned away. Many of the children seen have had no prior dental care and their parents rely on the van’s services for this care.

Some school-aged and high school-aged children are also seen. Not only does the van’s dentist, Dr. Rebecca Schaffer, who is an adjunct professor at the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, provide dental services, she also provides education about nutrition’s role in overall health.

“The epidemic of poor oral health in children is a crisis that will only be solved if we work together to ensure that all children have access to treatment and oral health education,” said Ira Lamster, DDS, MM.Sc., Dean of the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. “That’s why partnerships like this one between Columbia’s College of Dental Medicine and The Children’s Aid Society are so important to improving the oral health of children in our communities who otherwise might not have access to dental services.”

The Head Start children of Drew Hamilton created an original play with costumes for today’s “birthday party,” followed by a reception with healthy snacks. Children’s Aid’s celebration of the dental van coincides with National Children’s Dental Health Month, a time to focus on the need for dental services in low-income communities. The Children’s Aid Society also bases high quality dental services in its school- and community-based health centers. Its new orthodontic clinic in I.S. 218 (the Salomé Ureña Middle Academies), the first in a public school in the U.S., will start seeing patients soon.

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The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s largest non-sectarian agencies, serving over 150,000 of New York’s neediest children and their families with an innovative network of services that includes school- and community-based health centers, a mobile dental van, medical, dental, and mental health services, adoption and foster care services for children with severe and chronic medical and emotional problems, teen pregnancy prevention and education. For additional information on CAS’ health services, kindly visit www.childrensaidsociety.org.

The College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, founded in 1917, is located in northern Manhattan. In addition to providing education programs for pre- and post-doctoral candidates, CDM conducts research in state-of-the-art facilities and oversees an extensive community-based service program for residents in the surrounding community – a federally designated medical and dental manpower shortage area. Outreach into the community includes dental programs in seven area public schools, a dental van, and three off-site community-based dental clinics, providing state-of-the-art care to an underserved population as well as a rich learning environment for students at CDM. For additional information, visit: http://dental.columbia.edu

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