CHILDRENS DENTAL FOUNDATION
455 E COLUMBIA STREET, LONG BEACH, CA 90806 www.cdhc.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The clinic delivers oral health education and comprehensive treatment for economically disadvantaged and underserved children, including those with complex medical considerations, while also providing premier training in pediatric and multi-specialty dentistry.

To maintain and support the Children's Dental Health Clinic.

The Children's Dental Health Clinic (CDHC) has been serving Greater Long Beach since 1932. We serve over 6,500 children and young adults, ages 0-21, through 15,000 visits each year. Our patients are living at or below 266% of the federal poverty level, have issues with access to care, and/or have complex medical considerations. The CDHC is the only multi-specialty, non-profit hospital based dental provider in the Greater Long Beach area providing treatment under general anesthesia for low-income children. The CDHC is located on the campus of the Miller Women and Children's Hospital (from whom we lease space) with a satellite clinic in Avalon on Catalina Island. Over 90% of our underserved children use or are elgible for state Medicaid. This program (Dental-Cal) reimburses only approximately 65% of our costs.The CDHC is an all-inclusive safety-net dental home providing general and pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, oral surgery and treatment under general anesthsia (I.V. and hospital operating room). We are also a premier training facility for pediatric dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgeons with the USC School of Dentistry. Our pediatric dental residents are on-call 24/7 for the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center's emergency deoartment, are members of the Stramski Center's Cranio-Facial/Cleft Palate and Hematology/Oncology teams. We are also a training site for Cerritos College's Dental Assistant and Dental Hygiene programs and West Coast University's Dental Hygiene programs.Our main clinic offers comprehensive orthodontic treatment (braces). We treat routine to complex cases, including those with cranio-facial/cleft palate development challenges. Due to severe disease and complex medical conditions, many children may face early loss of teeth requiring integrated orthodontic assistance prior to the average age for braces. Our Orthodontic patients are able to access full dental care at our clinics including oral surgery, dental hygiene, and restorative care maximizing the best result of their orthodontic treatment. Through our Oral Health Education Program, every patient, along with parents/caregivers, are provided with oral health education and material (available in the appropriate language). Additionally, each child receives an oral health kit containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and a timer. Our Oral Health Education Program also provide outreach to community health fairs, WIC and HeadStart sites, special events and school sites, providing free dental screenings and education.BackgroundIn 1932, a Long Beach dentist, Dr. Robert Anderson, realized that in such dire economic times, our community's children needed greater access to dental care. With the idea that dental care could be brought to the children at Long Beach schools, Dr. Anderson was able to secure a trailer and convert it into a small dental clinic. The dream of providing accessible dental care to underserved students began with this small mobile clinic making its way from school to school. Over our 89-year history, the CDHC has evolved into a comprehensive, hospital-based facility on the campus of the Miller Children's Hospital in the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, with a satellite clinic in Avalon (Catalina Island). It was in 1988 that the CDHC started the Avalon Satellite Clinic in an effort to treat the "hidden underserved population" in Catalina. Today we have evolved into a Multi-specialty program that is continually responding to the challenges of providing quality care in an ever-changing economic environment. The CDHC has become more than a unique place to access multiple levels of oral care: it is the resource for the treatment of children with special medical and behavioral conditions and the safety-net dental home for underserved children in the greater Long Beach, Orange County and South Bay communities.One of the most important programs of the CDHC is our Dental Residency Program. The CDHC is a premier training facility for General and Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Surgery with the USC School of Dentistry. Residents are on-call 24/7 at the emergency rooms of Miller Children's Hospital, and are members of the Stramski Center's Cranio-Facial/Cleft Palate and Hematology/Oncology teams. CDHC "Attending" General and Pediatric Dentists oversee the training of our General and Pediatric Dental Residents and are faculty at the USC School of Dentistry. The Dental Residents, with the supervision of "Attending Dentists" at the CDHC, provide more treatment in the LB Miller Children's Hospital Operating rooms and/or with IV Sedation Specialty Teams in our clinic's specialty care areas than in many Dental Schools. This program not only increases our ability to provide access to care for more children, but it also keeps the CDHC at the forefront of Dental innovation and quality care.We are proud to provide one of the only Specialty Care/IV Sedation Programs in Greater Long Beach. Treatment under IV Sedation is an effective way to provide non-traumatic, safe, and monitored (by the Dental Anesthesiologist) deep sedation without the costly expense of bringing the child to a hospital operating room. In addition, both children and parents/caregivers will receive oral health education to promote proper brushing and oral hygiene techniques to prevent this type of extensive decay from happening again. The gap from state, county, and sliding scale patient payments is partially met from the generosity of gifts and grants from individuals, corporations, and foundations. With limited access to such specialty care due to shortages in providers serving underserved children with Denti-Cal, the CDHC is the only place for underserved complex patients in Greater Long Beach. Treatment under IV Sedation is provided to very young children, 0-8 years of age, and to children to age 21 who have special physical, medical and/or behavioral concerns necessitating treatment under sedation. Many of the underserved children needing treatment under IV Sedation are those who have previously not had access to dental care. When they finally come to us, they often have extensive dental disease in three or four quadrants of the mouth. While their more affluent peers may be able to access such treatment under IV Sedation when needed, underserved children have little access to such treatment.

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