College of Dentistry News Banner
QUICK LINKS Click to Register
MAKE A GIFT

    Brilliant Futures Giving Link
REGISTER NOW


COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY NEWS
  • Grant Helps Underserved Illinois Children Receive Oral Healthcare


    Caswell Evans
    Caswell Evans,DDS, MPH
    Associate Dean of Prevention
    and Public Health Sciences

  • More underserved Illinois children will receive oral healthcare through a $1.5 million grant to the College.
  • The grant, from the Illinois Children's Health Care Foundation, will begin as a pilot program next January and allow the College to expand its current community-based rotations. Twelve fourth-year students will spend half of their final semester treating underserved children in three yet-to-be determined clinics in the Chicago area.
  • "The College of Dentistry recognizes that it is imperative to graduate more dentists prepared to meet the needs of underserved communities and Illinois' children," said Dr. Caswell Evans, Associate Dean for Prevention and Public Health Sciences.
  • The 12 students will be divided into six teams. Two teams will be assigned to each clinic, with the students alternating two-week periods between their site and the College's own clinics. This format allows the community site to have the benefit of two student-clinicians for the five-month duration of the pilot program.
  • In May 2009 the program will be expanded to include 12 students for the entire 2009-10 academic year. The students, Dr. Evans said, will gain half their clinical experience and training--approximately 120 days--in a community-based learning environment.
  • The number of students will increase to 24 in the 2010-11 academic year; by the 2011-12 academic year, the entire class of about 64 fourth-year students will spend half of their time in community clinics, Dr. Evans said.
  • During the 2006-07 academic year, fourth-year dental students provided care for 3,008 children and 3,464 adults in the 15 clinics that take part in the extramural rotation program. Thirteen clinics are located throughout Chicago and northern Illinois, with the other two located in Colorado and Guatemala. The students, Dr. Evans said, completed more than 13,100 dental procedures.
  • The Illinois Children's Health Care Foundation is committing $20 million over the next five years to increase children's access to oral health services.