The California Dental Association (CDA) Foundation has awarded $10,000 grants to five nonprofit organizations to fund a wide variety of community oral health projects across the state.
Out of the nearly 60 letters of intent that it received, the foundation selected and invited the top 17 that described qualified and competitive projects to submit a full proposal.
The foundation's Grant Selection Committee chose the following recipients:
- Fresh Start Surgical Gifts. The grant will provide comprehensive restorative and orthodontic dental procedures, as well as preventive dental education to 120 disadvantaged infants, children, and teens faced with complex dental conditions because of craniofacial deformities and dentofacial abnormalities.
- Sacramento District Dental Foundation. The grant will help fund the organization's Smiles for BIG Kids program, which works to provide screenings, education, and restorative treatment for uninsured adults with urgent dental needs in the greater Sacramento area. This program specifically targets the elderly, parents of children served by the Smiles for Kids project, and individuals referred by partnering wraparound care organizations, such as job readiness programs and transitional care programs.
- University of California, San Diego Student-Run Free Dental Clinic. The grant will support this project and its efforts to improve access to dental care for an estimated 1,500 underserved individuals. The funds will purchase necessary endodontic equipment so the program's participating endodontists, and general dentists will be able to perform root canal therapy on underserved individuals.
- St. Mary's Interfaith Community Services. The grant will support a project that provides preventive and restorative dental care to about 2,800 underserved individuals. The funds will be used to increase the current part-time dental assistant position to full-time, enabling the clinic to increase patient appointments by at least 5% and treat more individuals in need.
- St. John's Well Child and Family Center. The grant will support a project aimed at increasing access to preventive and early intervention dental care for low-income adults and children in Compton. The seed funding will be applied toward the purchase of digital radiograph equipment and will have long-term impact by increasing workflow efficiency through a decreased x-ray process time (an estimated 20 minutes less per patient). This project will save the clinic at least $18,000 per year by eliminating materials required for the current x-ray process.
