Dental clinic targets at-risk community

school-based community dental clinic will offer services to one of Rochester's most impoverished neighborhoods, supported by a partnership between the Medical Center, the Eastman Dental Center, Strong Health, Unity Health System, and the Rochester City School District.

The Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation Outreach Dental Center is located in Enrico Fermi School No. 17, whose surrounding community is home to the highest childhood poverty rate in the city of Rochester and the 12th highest nationwide. The nearly 4,000-square-foot clinic will offer dental services to as many as 5,000 people annually.

According to experts, the prevalence of cavities in children is often under appreciated, and the U.S. Surgeon General's office estimates that dental problems cause children to miss more than 50 million hours of school time each year.

"To deal with these oral health issues, we need to improve our involvement in education, preventive care, and treatment in the communities most affected. The new dental clinic is a wonderful example of that," says Cyril Meyerowitz, director of The Eastman Dental Center and chair of the Department of Dentistry.

The dental center at School No. 17 is part of Project Believe, an initiative of the Medical Center that has set a goal of making Rochester the healthiest community in America by 2020.

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