Addressing Oral Health Disparities...
How the School of Dentistry's Detroit Dental Health Project is Making a Difference in the Lives of Children and their Caregivers
What's Next?
Hicks said she hopes some of the findings will encourage more oral health care providers in Detroit to help children.
Jerry Mastey
Among those involved with the Detroit Dental Health Project are (left to right): Dr. James Betz; Nikia Banks, research assistant: Charity Hicks, project coordinator; and Patricia Piechowski, research associate.
“The issue is one of access, access, access,” she said. “There’s a need for more providers and more clinics, especially those that can treat patients during the evening or on weekends because we found many parents can’t take off from work to take a child to a dentist while, for other parents, keeping a child in school to learn and get an education takes precedence over oral health.”
Ismail hopes to learn by this fall whether NIDCR will renew DDHP’s funding to conduct additional studies.
Those involved with the Detroit Dental Health Project say the contributions of the group to the city and its residents are important.
“DDHP has brought an awareness of the oral health care gaps we have in this community,” Ridella said. “But it has also offered an opportunity to try to alleviate them with access to care and education.”
Dr. Lorelei Claiborne, a dentist at the Community Health and Social Services dental clinic who talked about oral health in the DVD, agrees.
“Before the Detroit Dental Health Project began its work, the phrase ‘oral health disparities’ seemed to be something of an abstract concept to many. But because of the group’s work, we now have numbers, hard data if you will, that state exactly what the problems are. From there, we can try to address them.”
VODI’s Lucille Smith said “DDHP has been a catalyst that brought the community and many organizations together around the need for better oral health. My hope is that what’s been learned can be used to develop more comprehensive approaches to addressing the problem.”
Ridella agrees.
“Because of the Detroit Dental Health Project, we have seen just how important the issue of oral health disparities is, and if we are to effectively address this problem, it must be as a partnership that involves universities, the city, community organizations, dental providers, and others.”
He also cited “a critical need” to develop more facilities that provide access to care along with more providers to make sure the needs of children are addressed.
Ismail admits the challenge is formidable. But he’s optimistic.
“The children of Detroit are very energetic and very intelligent,” he said. “We may not be able to solve all the problems, but I think we should at least make an effort to try to solve some of them, not only for their sake, but also for the sake of their children.”
