UB uses a rolling dental office to provide dental care for more
than 3,000 children in Chautauqua County every year. You can pitch
in.
UB's School of Dental Medicine has served the oral health care
needs of children in Chautuaqua County for 15 years with its
school-based mobile dental van. Now we’ve replaced the aging
van with a much larger mobile dental unit (MDU), a full service,
three-operatory dental office on a semi-trailer chassis. Just as
the van traveled from school to school throughout Chautauqua
County, this dental office on wheels will be moved to the same
locations.
UB’s mobile dental program in Chautauqua County visits 24
schools, averaging 3,100 patient visits each year. The program is
managed by pediatric and general dentists, a dental hygienist and
dental assistant in the mobile clinic, and is supported with
facilities, information technology and operational staff located at
UB.
The new unit will allow the program to increase staffing and
dramatically increase the number of children treated each year.
The mobile dental unit program will also conduct a pilot program
in Erie County, operating at several Buffalo Public Schools.
The new mobile dental unit itself was funded in large part by a
grant from the federal Health Resources and Services
Administration. The Ralph C. Sheldon Foundation and the Lenna
Foundation, both of Jamestown, NY made significant contributions to
the project.
But now we need everyone’s support to help us provide
these services. Specifically, gifts to the Mobile Dental Unit fund
provide support for:
- clinical supplies
- educational materials
- trailer transportation
- staffing for free screenings
- equipment maintenance
You can give the children we serve no greater gift to their
future well-being than your gifts to this program.