May 25, 2000-Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative is working to break what the United States Surgeon General David Satcher called a silent crisis in oral health in a major report released today in Washington, D.C.

Northern Manhattan Community Voices is leading the nation in providing oral health services where they are most needed: in schools. Through the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery's Community DentCare Network, the founding member of the Northern Manhattan Collaborative, Community Voices provides over 10,000 oral health visits annually at local schools. With dental facilities at six school-based sites, DentCare is able to follow up on a child's dental treatment throughout his/her years in school.

One of the six school-based sites includes a full-service, two-chair dental office that provides comprehensive oral health services to the children in their school, their siblings and the neighborhood's children, including pre-school children in Head Start and day care programs. School based oral health programs provide access for children who would otherwise not receive care. In a seventh site, Community DentCare Network has teamed up with the Children's Aid Society to provide care. Children being seen in school have better attendance records, receive services in an anxiety-free environment, and are able to perform better in school because dental problems are treated in their early stages.

"The Community DentCare Network has given us an opportunity to bring together the local community to deal with oral health issues in our neighborhoods. The community told us where services were needed, and we listened. That's what made our program a success," said Dr. Allan J. Formicola, Dean of the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery. "The report by the Surgeon General indicates that he is listening and calling on the oral health community to respond."

The Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative will continue to address oral health issues by creating a model practice with the Columbia University's Pediatrics Medicine Early Intervention Program, the creation of a comprehensive dental and medical facility in Central Harlem, and the provision of dental services for Head Start and elementary school children using a mobile unit with the Children's Aid Society.