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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
NSU receives $58,000 grant to provide free dental services to 400 North Miami Beach Elementary schoolchildren
FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla.— Approximately 400 underserved elementary school students in the North Miami Beach area will receive free preventive dental services from Nova Southeastern University.
NSU’s College of Dental Medicine (NSU-CDM) recently announced that it will use a $58,141 grant from the Dr. John. T. Macdonald Foundation Inc. to provide dental services such as cleanings, fluoride application, sealants and oral hygiene instruction to the students of three participating elementary schools in North Miami Beach beginning in January 2010.
Many of these schoolchildren are at risk for dental caries or tooth decay. This condition affects low-income and disadvantaged children significantly more than their affluent cohorts. More than 50 percent of children without health insurance had 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, according to NSU’s College of Dental Medicine.
If left untreated, dental caries may lead to problems in eating, speaking and sleeping. Poor oral health among children has been tied to lower performance in school and poor social relationships. Children with early childhood dental pain often weigh less than other children.
“This important grant will help us reduce the risk of dental caries, which is the single most common childhood disease,” said Stephen Abel, D.D.S., Associate Dean of NSU’s College of Dental Medicine (CDM). “It can be prevented or significantly minimized through services supported by the John T. Macdonald Foundation and carried out by our dental staff at NSU-CDM.”
NSU plans to begin providing the dental services in January and continue throughout the school year. The NSU-CDM program is designed to provide the children with preventative oral health services at NSU’s North Miami Beach Dental Clinic.
About The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc: The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc. is a private grant-making foundation, supporting projects and programs designed to improve, preserve or restore the health and health care of the people in Miami-Dade County. For more information or a grant application, please contact Mrs. Kim Greene, Executive Director, 1550 Madruga Avenue, Suite 215, Coral Gables, FL 33146, (305) 667-6017, website: www.jtmacdonaldfdn.org.