Press releases

Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: October 21, 2004
Media contact: Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493

Yale-New Haven Hospital Pediatric Dentistry Center opens with community celebration

Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) celebrated its newly constructed Pediatric Dentistry Center and the expansion of its dental services with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, October 21.

The Yale-New Haven Pediatric Dentistry Center at 860 Howard Avenue, located opposite the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, provides preventive, comprehensive and urgent dental care to children up to 16 years of age. The state-of-the-art facility is focused on meeting the needs of underserved children in the community and to providing dental care to those with special medical needs.

"The Pediatric Dentistry Center reflects Yale-New Haven Hospital’s long-standing commitment to the communites we serve," said YNHH President and CEO Joseph A. Zaccagnino. "By expanding access to the hospital’s dental services, we are further helping to meet the critical needs of a very vulnerable population within our community."

The YNHH Pediatric Dentistry Center offers a wide range of services including consultations; check-ups and diagnostic services; restorative care; emergency care; and preventive and interceptive orthodontics. The center has digital radiography, computerized chair-side patient record keeping, six fully equipped treatment rooms, X-ray facilities and dental laboratory space.

"The center’s primary focus is comprehensive dental care for the underserved children in the New Haven community—with particular emphasis on treatment for children with special health care needs," said James Rawlings, executive director of community health at the hospital. "Our goal is to develop partnerships with patients, their families and schools to teach children the importance of good oral health care."

The dental department at YNHH was initiated in 1921 to provide comprehensive and emergency services to medically compromised, special needs, emergency room and inpatient referrals, as well as the community at large. Adults will still be served at the Dana Clinic Building at 789 Howard Avenue. The department expects 18,000 visits annually at both locations.

"Studies have shown that good dental care is essential for overall health and well-being," said Donald Kohn, DDS, director of the YNHH Pediatric Dentistry Center and clinical professor of dental surgery and pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine.

Reporters: For more information on this release, contact Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493.

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