NSU’s College of Dental Medicine received a $55,000 grant from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation to provide dental services to North Miami Beach elementary students.
The Dr. John. T. Macdonald Foundation provides funding for programs and projects designed to improve, preserve or restore the health and healthcare of the people in Miami-Dade County.
The award allows NSU to provide dental services such as oral examinations, cleanings, fluoride application, sealants and oral hygiene instruction to uninsured students at participating elementary schools during the 2015 to 2016 school years.
Last year, the grant funded more than 2,000 preventative and restorative services for nearly 300 second and third graders at Greynolds Park, Fulford and Gertrude K. Edelman Sabal Palm elementary schools.
College of Dental Medicine Pediatric Dentistry Professor Sandra Brener said that in the past the grant enabled children without dental insurance or financial resources to get preventive and restorative care.
“If these treatments are not provided in a timely manner, children could end up with severe complications that require hospitalization and visits to the emergency room due to pain and infection; this would ultimately lead to more costly treatments for the families,” she said.
Ana Karina Mascarenhas, associate dean and chief of developmental sciences at the College of Dental Medicine, said many of these school children are at risk for tooth decay.
“Thanks to this generous grant we are able to help them; tooth decay affects low-income and disadvantaged children significantly more than their affluent peers,” she said.
More than 50 percent of children without health insurance have not seen a dentist in the past year and more than one in five needed dental care but did not receive it for financial reasons, said Mascarenhas.
“People need to be more aware of children’s dental health; tooth decay is the most common childhood disease and, if left untreated, it can lead to problems eating, speaking and sleeping,” Mascarenhas said. “Poor oral health among children has been tied to lower performance in school and poor social relationships.”
Brener said dental disease is nearly 100 percent preventable, but the prevention of dental disease depends on awareness and education.
“The grant allows school age children to be given an opportunity to make the right decision regarding their hygiene habits,” she said.
Because the services are provided directly to the child, the grant has the added value of taking the burden off parents who work.
“Children from low socioeconomic background have parents who struggle to keep a job. Therefore, taking time off work to take their child to the dentist could imply losing their job, or in other circumstances, they don’t even have transportation to go to the appointments,” she said.
Mascarenhas said the grant is also an opportunity for NSU to promote its excellence.
“If NSU is providing care for these children, when it is time for them to go to college, they will keep NSU in mind,” she said.
For more information, visit dental.nova.edu.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of nsunews.nova.edu
