Of the 36 pediatric dentists currently practicing in Nebraska, only four have practices in communities outside of Omaha and Lincoln.
That’s chilling when you consider that dental disease is the most common chronic disease for children ages five to 17.
“Twenty five percent of the children in the state experience 80 percent of the dental disease reported,” said Kimberly McFarland, D.D.S., assistant professor in the department of oral biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry.
To address this challenge the College of Dentistry is implementing a new telehealth and service learning program for its pediatric dental residents.
Dr. McFarland and Timothy Durham, D.D.S., professor of hospital dentistry at the UNMC College of Dentistry, recently received a $1 million, three-year grant from the Human Resources and Service Administration (HRSA).
The grant will allow them to utilize technology to implement rural health rotations as part of the dental pediatric residency training process.
Currently none of the four pediatric dental residents rotate to sites outside of the pediatric dental practice in Omaha. That’s because they need to attend the required lectures as part of their residency.
But, with funding from the grant, Drs. McFarland and Durham will be able to provide the needed technology to three designated rural sites that will allow the residents to participate in lectures via the Internet.
Each site will also be equipped with intraoral cameras that will allow the director of the dental residency program, Fouad Salama, D.D.S., to see the dental procedure being done and talk to the pediatric dental resident at the same time.
“The cameras and other computer equipment are part of a $125,000 technology infrastracture upgrade at the College of Dentistry that will be provided to the rural clinics where the pediatric dental residents will be working,” Dr. McFarland said. “The funding will provide the necessary infrastructure for the college as well as computer and two-way videoconferencing capabilities used at the off-site locations.”
During the course of the grant the Pediatric Dental Residency Training Program will place 24 residents in three underserved areas of the state next year. The sites have not yet been determined. In the first year, each resident will spend two weeks at their designated rotation site with an additional week added the next two years of the grant for a total of four weeks.
“We hope they find a community that they really like and want to call home,” Dr. Durham said. “This program will give their training experience a whole new appreciation for the needs of rural communities and we hope this provides them a link to those communities should they decide to practice there.”
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
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