UCSF-Led Children's Oral Health Initiative Receives Major Funding

A UCSF School of Dentistry student teaches a young patient proper flossing techniques. (Source: ucsf.edu)

Note: UCSF-CTSI Community Engagement & Health Policy Program supported the first phase SFHIP, which then aligned w/ community collaborators such as San Francisco's non-profit hospitals and their Community Benefits Partnership (CBP) and Building a Healthier San Francisco (BHSF) projects; and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Full announcement here at UCSF.edu

Two UC San Francisco-sponsored programs beat out more than 80 others to win major funding to help advance meaningful solutions to local health issues in San Francisco.

The Hellman Foundation announced the award of the first Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative grants to the EatSF Fruit and Vegetable Voucher Program and the Children’s Oral Health Collaborative. Each program will receive $400,000—coupled with strategic support from the Hellman Foundation—to strengthen their partnerships and support their efforts to improve lives in San Francisco.
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The Children’s Oral Health Collaborative is committed to eradicating health disparities in childhood tooth decay, with the aim of making San Francisco cavity-free. The program is co-led by UCSF’s Lisa Chung, DDS, MPH, and San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Margaret Fisher, RDHAP.

Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease. In San Francisco, emergency department visits for preventable dental problems are higher than that for asthma and diabetes combined, and untreated tooth decay is two to three times more common for children of color. 

“Our success is due to many dedicated partners, some individuals who have spent much of their careers to combat tooth decay, a pervasive health problem that all too often goes unacknowledged and untreated in children,” said Chung, an associate professor in the UCSF School of Dentistry’s Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences.

Read the full announcement on UCSF.edu