Dental care for children at risk

Childhood dental decay has been called a “silent epidemic” affecting as many as 60 percent of Washington’s school kids in second and third grade. Now, a unique partnership between the UW School of Dentistry, Children’s Hospital and the Washington Dental Service has created a new center to tackle this growing problem — The Center for Pediatric Dentistry.

The 28,000-square-foot facility in Magnuson Park, a $21 million renovation of a World War II-era building, is the first of its kind in the United States. It will aim to provide 30,000 visits to children in its first year, and 40,000 thereafter. It will serve Washington children from birth to age 21, with emphasis on special-needs kids and those at highest risk for dental disease.

“We need a giant step forward in disease reduction, and we believe this Center will be the catalyst,” said Laura Smith, president and CEO of the WDS Foundation. “This is a unique opportunity to address early childhood oral disease through a multipronged approach: expanding the available care to prevent and treat, research on more effective ways to deliver care, and focus on those children most at risk.”

The Center will tackle childhood dental disease with new approaches, including a strong focus on early intervention, with dental visits by age 1. It will focus not only on clinical care, but also on research, education and public policy.

The Center arose out of discussions between Dr. Joel Berg, the UW’s chair of Pediatric Dentistry and director of the new program; Seattle Children’s; the UW; Washington Dental Service (WDS); and the WDS Foundation. An unprecedented gift of $5 million from WDS and its Foundation in 2007 provided the impetus to launch construction, while Children’s contributed $1.5 million and other resources, and the UW issued construction bonds to finance the balance of the renovation.