Dental van will offer health screenings and low-cost dental care to children and seniors in Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and the South Bronx

Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine is celebrating the launch of its new mobile dental clinic with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Friday, November 12, from 10:00 am to 11:15 am at The Forum, Columbia University’s Manhattanville campus, 605 West 125th Street. Christian Stohler, DMD, Dean, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, will lead a brief speaking program, including former U.S. representative Charles Rangel and leadership from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Delta Dental. Faculty and students will also lead tours of the mobile clinic.

The new mobile clinic, funded by a $585,000 grant from Delta Dental’s Community Care Foundation, replaces a van that was purchased in 2009.

The new 35-foot-long mobile clinic is staffed by faculty and students at Columbia University’s College of Dental Medicine. It contains two dental chairs, x-ray equipment, a room for health education, and a wheelchair lift. The mobile clinic is also outfitted with dental instruments that capture biometric information to improve clinical care through the college’s Center for Precision Dental Medicine. The clinic will also offer interdisciplinary preventive care, including vaccinations.

The mobile dental clinic will travel to neighborhood schools, Head Start programs, daycare centers, foster care facilities, schools, and health clinics in Harlem, Inwood, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx to provide onsite oral health care and preventive health services to children through Columbia’s DentCare program. Through new and ongoing partnerships, the mobile clinic will also offer health screenings for seniors at local community and elder care centers.