HRSA Grant to Help University

In the United States, there are more than 61,000 pediatric physicians but fewer than 5,000 pediatric dentists—a statistic that reveals a huge shortage of the latter. In some areas of Illinois, there are no pediatric dentists at all. Incidences of tooth decay in children one-to-three years old are way up, and the disease burden is primarily on underserved lower socioeconomic minority populations. Yet, there are fewer than ten African-American or Hispanic pediatric dentists in all of Illinois.

Thanks to a federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant obtained by Dr. Indru Punwani, Head of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, the College will be better able to tackle these problems.

The grant will allow the College to increase its number of pediatric dentistry residents by 50%, from four per year to six per year, or 12 in total. All of the additional residents will hail from underrepresented minority groups.

“They will be role models for other minority students and minority patients, and undergo preparation to become future faculty,” Dr. Punwani explained. “Hispanic residents in particular will deal with a crisis we face right now: 48% of the children who come to our clinic for care are Spanish-speaking. A three-year old Hispanic child can be relaxed and cooperative when spoken to in Spanish. However, if there is a language barrier, that child becomes a pharmacologic management or operating room patient.”

The grant will allow the College to enhance the cultural competency component of its curriculum.

Resident training in the healthcare of children with special needs, such as HIV/AIDS and craniofacial and other developmental disabilities, also will be enhanced. When such children are referred to the College from UIC’s hospital, sometimes busy parents may not quickly follow up and make an appointment. The grant will help pay for installation of the College’s AxiUm electronic scheduling program in UIC’s pediatrics health specialty clinics, allowing personnel there to directly make appointments for them at the College.

“Every day we will have one resident treating only hospital and special needs patients, so they always will be assured of getting an appointment,” Dr. Punwani said. With College personnel’s determination to increase and supplement residents’ exposure to the communities the College serves, the grant will help pay for sending residents on a rotation to the Robert R. McCormick Boys & Girls Club Dental Clinic/Crest Smile Shoppe in the Uptown community of Chicago. This not only will bring the College’s residents into the community, but assure that more children will receive care.

“There is a fear and anxiety factor for some youngsters about coming to the College, but the Boys & Girls Club is where they swim, play, and have gym,” Dr. Punwani explained. “The comfort level is much higher, so the no-show rate is much lower.”

Dr. Punwani also believes the grant will help us change the orientation of the College’s pediatric program from disease treatment to disease prevention, and plans to renovate the clinic areas so that every resident will have two dental chairs “so residents can become more productive and work the way pediatric dentists in the outside world do,” he said. “While you are waiting for local anesthesia to work on one child, you can do a prophylaxis on another.”

The grant provides $202,399 the first year, $228,489 the second year, $134,231 the third year, and also is eligible for renewal. Dr. Punwani benefited from the assistance of his Department of Pediatric Dentistry colleagues Drs. Shar Fadavi, Postgraduate Program Director; Larry Saltzmann, Predoctoral Program Director; Marila Montero, Visiting Assistant Professor; and Al Bolden, Extramural Programs Director, for the work they did to obtain this important grant.