Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation has pledged $440,000 to promote dental health education, help provide accessible dental health care in Arkansas, and assist with the development of a dental clinic and dental education center at University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS).
The gift will fund the conversion and renovation space at UAMS for future use as a dental clinic, which also will serve as a dental education site for residents and students, and will fund the purchase of equipment for the dental clinic. It will be the first program to educate dentists and provide comprehensive oral care, noted Charles Cranford, DDS, special assistant to the chancellor for dental education initiatives and a professor of health policy and management in the College of Public Health.
The new oral health clinic will serve patients who are referred from community dentists, UAMS patients with acute oral health issues compromising medical treatment, and patients from the UAMS College of Health Related Professions dental hygiene clinic.
