Delta Dental of New Jersey has given a $1.5 million gift to the Foundation of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to expand and modernize the New Jersey Dental School's Special Care Center to increase access to quality dental care for patients with severe cognitive or physical impairments.
The new center will have eight dedicated operatories and a private reception area. It will be built alongside the pediatric dental clinic that will be renovated on the dental school's Newark campus, according to Delta Dental.
At present, the school's Pediatric Dentistry Clinic sees more than 10,000 patient visits, and approximately 4,000 patients are treated in the Special Care Center. But this represents only a fraction of the needs of thousands of children younger than age 14 in Newark and the special needs population throughout the state, according to Cecile Feldman, DMD, MBA, dean of the dental school.
"Because there are so few facilities in New Jersey that provide dental care for special needs patients, they have great difficulty receiving necessary treatment," Dr. Feldman explained. "Our new clinic will enable us to expand to more fully meet the needs of this special patient population."
