August 29, 2007

Contact:
Ken Ma
NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5354 Office
954-830-4177 Cell
kennma@nova.edu

Nova Southeastern University Receives $57,000 Grant to Provide Free Dental Services to 400 Miami-Dade County Schoolchildren

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla ---- Nova Southeastern University (NSU) announced Wednesday it received a $57,000 grant from a Miami foundation to provide dental services to 400 underserved elementary and middle school students in Miami-Dade County.

NSU’s College of Dental Medicine is partnering with the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine to provide dental services such as fluoride application, oral hygiene instruction, among others. The grant was awarded by the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc., a private grant-making foundation.

NSU plans to begin providing the dental services in the fall and continue throughout the school year.

“Dental caries [tooth decay] is the single most common childhood disease. Poor, disadvantaged and minority children experience significantly more untreated dental diseases than more affluent cohorts,” said Stephen Abel, D.D.S., Assistant Dean of NSU’s College of Dental Medicine.

Abel said untreated oral diseases may lead to problems in eating, speaking and sleeping. Poor oral health among children has been tied to poor performance in school and poor social relationships. Children with chronic dental pain may have difficulty concentrating, poor self-image and problems completing schoolwork. Children with early childhood dental problems also often weigh less.

The new NSU-UM program is designed to provide students with preventative oral health services at NSU’s North Miami Beach Dental Clinic.

Participating schools include Fulford Elementary, Greynolds Park Elementary and G.K. Edelman/Sabal Palm Elementary.

About The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc: The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation, Inc. is a private grant-making foundation, supporting projects and programs designed to improve, preserve or restore the health and health care of the people in Miami-Dade County. For more information or a grant application, please contact Mrs. Kim Greene, Executive Director, 1550 Madruga Avenue, Suite 215, Coral Gables, FL 33146, (305) 667-6017, website: www.jtmacdonaldfdn.org.

About Nova Southeastern University: Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale is the largest independent institution of higher education in the Southeast, and it is the 6th largest independent institution nationally. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor's, master's, educational specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. The university is comprised of undergraduate, graduate and professional schools of osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, optometry, allied health and nursing, medical sciences, dental medicine, law, marine biology and oceanography, business and entrepreneurship, computer and information sciences, humanities, conflict resolution, family therapy, interdisciplinary studies, education, psychology and counseling, and family programs.