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Celebrating 100 Years

Eastman Institute for Oral Health / Celebrating 100 Years / 100 Year Impact / Community

Our First 100 Years of Community Service

Our community outreach program was one of the first programs of its kind and is among the oldest  and most respected community dentistry programs in the U.S. Eastman is the only one in the region that provides the comprehensive breadth of oral health services, and covers such a large geographic service area. Some highlights:

  • smilemobileIn 1967, we developed the first mobile dental unit in New York State—the SMILEmobile—caring for underserved city and rural schools throughout the region. 
  • EIOH has a 45-year track record of overcoming barriers to access—providing outreach dental care to  children and families in the inner city of Rochester and impoverished rural communities, treating tens of thousands of children and families.
  • Our program was recognized as one of the five best in the country in a previous “Surgeon General’s Conference on Children and Oral Health Report” and it stands as a model of sustainability.
  • Teledentistry: This innovative approach has helped pre-schoolers, children of migrant workers, and families living in rural areas or poverty, saving taxpayers thousands of dollars. 
  • Patient with IDPatients with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities: EIOH and B. Thomas Golisano Foundation are partnering to address the unmet oral health needs, reduce barriers, and increase training and awareness. 
  • College students: Eastman Dental provides free oral health screenings to downtown Monroe Community College students.
  • Emergency Dental Care: Eastman Dental has the only dedicated urgent dental care facility in the region, seeing up to 60 patients a day.
  • Diverse Patient Population throughout Rochester: In addition to our SMILEmobiles and main clinic sites near UR Medical Center and Highland Hospital, at School 17, and in the Sibley Building,we treat residents living at Hillside Children's Center and Monroe Community Hospital.

Collaboration with community members continues to be a core component of the program:

  • students with posterRochester City School District:  Has been an integral partner to the SMILEmobile program since its inception, and its continued involvement is critical to the program’s success. To-date more than 40,000 children have received oral healthcare services through the SMILEmobile Program.
  • Community Volunteer Dentists:  Since access to oral health care for patients with Medicaid insurance remains inadequate, we are grateful to dozens of community dentists who provide hundreds of hours volunteering their services.
  • Underserved People/ Trillium Health:  EIOH is leading efforts in improving overall dental public health, specifically underserved areas.  Previous grant-funded initiatives included helping patients with HIV and children in foster care, children enrolled in inner-city childcare centers and people in rural areas without access to care.
  • Lifespan, Jewish Home, Highlands at Pittsford:  Poor oral health for seniors contributes to poor nutrition and poor overall general health. Our experts not only provide treatment and address the unique concerns among older adults, but we also train the next generation of specialists.   
  • Finger Lakes Community Health: EIOH works closely with FLCH to reach children in rural areas via teledentistry, saving taxpayers thousands of dollars and reducing anxiety among children and their parents.