OSU dental care bus gets grant to keep treating low income children

A $450,000 grant from Delta Dental Foundation will enable Ohio State to continue offering free dental care to low income children in Central Ohio (Source: “Free dental care can roll on,” Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 29, 2008).

Since 2005, Ohio State has used a specially equipped bus to visit Columbus schools and provide dental care to students whose parents can not afford to take them to the dentist. The bus has made 5,400 visits and provided about 17,000 procedures in the past three years.

"In the scheme of things, (dental care is) often not a priority when you put it against whether or not you eat or whether or not you have the lights on in the house," said Canise Bean, director of the OHIO Project, the office at Ohio State that oversees the program.