NSU receives $70,000 grant from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation to Provide Dental Services to North Miami Beach Elementary Schoolchildren

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. — For the 2013-2014 academic year, underserved and uninsured elementary school students in the North Miami Beach area will once again receive dental care services this academic school year from Nova Southeastern University (NSU).

NSU’s College of Dental Medicine (NSU-CDM) recently announced that it will use a $70,000 grant from the Dr. John. T. Macdonald Foundation Inc., to provide dental services such as oral examinations, cleanings, fluoride application, sealants and oral hygiene instruction to the uninsured students of participating elementary schools in North Miami Beach beginning this fall. The Macdonald Foundation has supported NSU’s College of Dental Medicine through a recurring grant for the past few years which provides free dental care to North Miami children.

Many of these schoolchildren are at risk for 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, tooth decay 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 grant supported by the John T. Macdonald Foundation and carried out by our dental staff and students will provide much needed dental care to children of low-income families, reducing the risk of tooth decay, the single most common childhood disease.” said Ana Karina Mascarenhas, BDS, MPH, DrPH, Associate Dean and Chief of Developmental Sciences of NSU’s College of Dental Medicine (CDM).

The NSU-CDM program provides children from select Miami-Dade County elementary schools with oral health services at NSU’s North Miami Beach Dental Clinic located at 1750 NE 167th St.‎

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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.

About NSU College of Dental Medicine: Students of the college benefit from our state-of-the-art educational and clinical facilities, which feature the latest in computer and video technology, and from our distinguished professors, recruited from throughout the United States. The college’s facilities, faculty, and dynamic curriculum have attracted worldwide attention. Students and professionals have come from very diverse backgrounds to pursue their courses of study at the college, but outstanding instruction and advanced technology are only means to an end http://dental.nova.edu/

About Nova Southeastern University: About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 300 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic fully accredited research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels.  NSU is a not-for-profit independent institution with an enrollment of approximately 27,000 students. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification. For more information visit www.nova.edu.

Media contact:
Vera Mandilovitch
NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5309 work
954-882-3570 cell
vmandilovitch@nova.edu