Establishing, funding, and sustaining a university outreach program in oral health.
The Surgeon General's report of May 2000, Oral Health in America, suggests that there are two Americas in terms of oral health: those who have excellent oral health, and those who are unable to access care and have disparate amounts of dental disease. Since the majority of dental schools are located in urban settings, dental educators need to establish, fund, and sustain outreach programs while sensitizing students to the needs of the underserved. This paper describes the process that Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine used to develop an outreach program to address the needs of underserved children in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lalumandier
James A
JA
School of Dental Medicine, Department of Community Dentistry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. james.lalumandier@case.edu
Molkentin
Kay F
KF
D000293:Adolescent; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D009820:Ohio; D009909:Oral Health; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012575:Schools, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration*