Press releases

Released August 17, 1999
Yale-New Haven Hospital news release

Yale-New Haven Dental Program
Expands Community Outreach

For more information, call 203-688-2488 or E-mail Ken Best

The department of Dentistry at Yale-New Haven Hospital will expand its outreach to the community with a dental health educator who will visit New Haven public schools and work with patients in the hospital's pediatric Primary Care Center.

Grants from BeneCare and the Friends of the Children's Hospital at Yale-New Haven will provide the funding for a full-time registered dental hygienist at the hospital who also will serve on the faculty of the dental hygiene program at the University of New Haven.

"This is an important addition to our dental services and to our mission of providing comprehensive dental care to those most in need," said Dr. Donald W. Kohn, chief of dentistry at YNHH and clinical professor of dental surgery and pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. "A skilled dental hygienist educator can help improve direct access to care for the children of Greater New Haven."

A 1998 report on the use of dental services by the Connecticut Children's Health Project found that less than one in three children received preventive dental services in the state. Nearly 70 percent of the children in the study sample of children ages 3-19 years old did not have any record of preventive dental services in the one-year review of records. Among the lowest rate of preventive care was for children living in New Haven County.

The YNHH Dental Program has provided comprehensive care to patients for more than 75 years and is the only major source of dental care in southern Connecticut for patients whose medical condition or disability makes treatment in a conventional dental practice impractical or difficult. In 1998, nearly 7,000 patients received dental care at Yale-New Haven under the guidance of a staff of 48 area dentists who provide more than 100 volunteer hours each to teach and care for patients with resident staff dentists.

In addition to the general dentists who volunteer to treat patients at the Yale-New Haven Dental Clinic, specialists include pediatric dentists, oral surgeons, orthodontists, endodontists and periodontists. There are also three full-time dental residents who are on staff and pediatric dentists who provide specialized care for children three days per week.

Dr. Kohn, who serves as director of the YNHH dental program, is president of the International Association of Pediatric Dentistry and associate editor of the Journal of Dentistry for Children.

Reporters: For more information, call 203-688-2488 or E-mail Ken Best.

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