THE BLUEPRINT:
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A $750,000 grant from Mother Cabrini Health Foundation funds the new 45-foot Mobile Dental Care Center (MDCC).
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The MDCC includes preventive pediatric dental care: cleanings, fluoride, sealants and panoramic imaging.
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Mobile clinic brings dental services directly to schools and family shelters in Suffolk County.
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Real-time patient records synced via Starlink to Stony Brook’s dental center and hospital.
Stony Brook Dental Medicine has expanded access to care to children at schools and family shelters, with its new 45-foot Mobile Dental Care Center (MDCC).
Thanks to a $750,000 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to purchase the vehicle, the MDCC is fully equipped to provide comprehensive pediatric dental care. This includes preventive care such as cleanings, fluoride treatment and sealants.
“Today we’re celebrating more than a new vehicle, we’re celebrating access, compassion, and community,” Dr. William Wertheim, executive vice president of Stony Brook Medicine, said.
The MDCC “will bring high-quality dental care directly to children and families who might otherwise go without, regardless of financial challenges, physical limitations, or transportation barriers,” Wertheim added.
The MDCC features extensions for added space, a panoramic imaging machine to assess children’s dental development, and Starlink internet service for real-time updates to patient records that are linked directly to the university’s dental care center and hospital.
“This is more than a ‘dental office on wheels,’ and for many children it will be their first dental experience and one that will likely shape how they react to seeing the dentist for the [rest] of their lives, and how they will take care of their teeth throughout their youth, adulthood and beyond,” Dr. Patrick Lloyd, dean of the Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, said in a written statement.
With the “help of funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, we are grateful for the opportunity to help meet the mission of the foundation by improving the health and well-being of vulnerable New Yorkers, bolster health outcomes of diverse communities, eliminate barriers to care, and bridge the health sciences,” Dr. Rhona Sherwin, director of pediatric dentistry outreach at the School of Dental Medicine, said in a written statement.
Throughout the next several months, Stony Brook University’s dental outreach team – including faculty, staff, residents and students – will provide services at 23 elementary schools across five school districts, as well as at four family shelters in Suffolk County.
