Grantee Name
New York University College of Dentistry
Funding Area
Special Projects Fund
Publication Date
April 2013
Grant Amount
$197,682
Grant Date:
June 1, 2009 – May 31, 2010
In mid-2009, a significant proportion of Columbia County’s children in the Capital Region were at high risk for oral disease due to a number of factors, including poverty; lack of water fluoridation; cultural and environmental issues; diet; and limited oral hygiene education.
Access to dental care providers also played an important role in increasing risk; no private dentists within the county accepted Medicaid, despite 750 children relying on it for their medical care. In the city of Hudson alone, there were no pediatric dentists, and the planned discontinuation of Columbia County Memorial Hospital’s dental services program further lessened access to care. As a major provider of dental services to New York State’s Medicaid population, New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) decided to intervene and initiated the Columbia County Oral Health Intervention Program. The program intended to reduce dental caries in approximately 1,500 children from kindergarten through sixth grade by 95% over a three-year period.
In April 2009, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) awarded NYUCD a one-year grant, which was eventually extended to two years, to cover the start-up costs of the program. NYUCD supplied the requisite dental supplies, equipment, clinical resources, and administration, while its faculty, postgraduate pediatric dentistry residents, and graduating dental and dental hygiene students served patients.