The Wisconsin Dental Association (WDA) Foundation is giving more than $51,000 in grants and designated funding to 20 programs that bring oral healthcare to low-income residents and provide other dentistry-related services.
Madison's AIDS Network will use a $4,000 gift to purchase needed dental clinic supplies and pay laboratory fees. In Milwaukee, the AIDS Resource Center will use a $5,000 award to help pay for patients' dentures and prosthodontic procedures. The Boys & Girls Club of Fond du Lac is receiving $500 in support of its cavity-free zone program. The club partners with local dental offices to provide fun oral hygiene education activities after school to an estimated 200 elementary school students.
A $3,000 grant to the Bread of Healing Clinic will help purchase dental operatory equipment, so more needed extractions and restorative care can be provided. Brown County Oral Health Partnership is receiving $3,000 to help underwrite a semipermanent dental clinic in a new early childhood education center in Green Bay.
Community Dental Clinic of Jefferson County will use its $4,000 to treat some low-income patients. The HealthNet of Rock County clinic in Janesville will use its $3,000 foundation grant to purchase equipment and supplies. A $5,000 grant supports Waukesha County Community Dental Clinic's adult dental program.
The fifth WDA Mission of Mercy will be held this month in Walworth County. Funding of $3,000 will help defray costs associated with 1,000 volunteers delivering $1 million in care over two days to 2,000 patients.
The Donated Dental Services program will use $3,000 in funding to continue providing free, comprehensive dental care to Wisconsin adults who cannot work due to a permanent disability, chronic illness, or advanced age, and whose needs are not met by public aid programs.
ADA and WDA educational materials valued at $1,700 will be available to first-year Marquette University School of Dentistry students at orientation. The school's building expansion project gets $1,000 as part of a foundation pledge.
Other recipients include Racine's Health Care Network, Lincoln County Health Department, Portage Community School District, Smiles for Sister Lucille Program, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Dental Clinic, Shawano County Healthy Smiles, Tri-County Community Dental Clinic, and Dentists Concerned for Dentists.
Since 2003, the WDA Foundation has awarded more than $602,000 in oral health program grants and scholarships to dental and dental hygiene students statewide, according to the organization.
The deadline for 2014 grant applications is July 31, 2013.
