Community DentCare Program

Bringing Care to the Community

Many members of our community face barriers to accessing dental care and other health care. Recognizing this, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine launched its Community DentCare program in 1996 to help address these disparities, with special focus on children and the vulnerable elderly. We partner with around 70 neighborhood organizations to provide health screenings and dental services at sites around Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. DentCare offers these services regardless of ability to pay.

DentCare has so far logged more than 150,000 patient care visits.

How We Work

Columbia fosters relationships with community partners—collectively called the Community DentCare Network—to coordinate visits to their locations. Partners include Head Start centers, schools, foster care facilities, senior citizen and community centers, and child care centers. Dental faculty, hygienists, and trainees provide care onboard our Mobile Dental Center or directly on site.

Mobile Dental Center

DentCare operates two mobile clinics. Both outfitted for comprehensive dental care and oral health education. Inside the clinic are two state-of-the-art dental chairs, X-ray equipment, and a patient education and reception area. The Mobile Dental Center also has a lift to bring wheelchair-bound patients on board.

We offer a number of services aboard the mobile clinic including exams, cleanings, fillings, extractions, crowns, sealants, and fluoride treatment. Addditionally, the newest van, launched in the spring of 2023, is equipped to offer  interdisciplinary preventive care, including vaccinations, and is outfitted with dental instruments that capture biometric information to improve clinical care through the college’s Center for Precision Dental Medicine.

ElderSmile

The DentCare team offers oral health care workshops, health screenings, and referrals to senior citizens in Washington Heights/Inwood and Central Harlem through its ElderSmile program. Preventive care is a main focus of ElderSmile: Visits feature screenings for oral cancer, hypertension, and/or diabetes as well as culturally sensitive health education.

Reaching Further: New Collaborations

DentCare is exploring several new collaborations to improve access to care.

• The College of Dental Medicine is forging a partnership with four PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) centers administered by ArchCare. This collaboration will enable DentCare to deliver oral health disease management services to participants of the PACE centers and other community sites.
• A pilot project to address the oral health care needs of the homebound in our community through telehealth is in underway with Columbia’s School of Nursing.
• Working with the NYP Ambulatory Care Network, we plan to provide vaccinations and preventive services to children on the Mobile Dental Center.
• We are piloting alternative models of care, including telehealth, interdisciplinary care, and mobile dentistry, with NYP at I.S. 141.