The L.A. County Department of Health Services funding source provides $1.3 million annually to the Pediatric Dental Clinic.

With its funding source sunsetting this summer, the LAC+USC Pediatric Dental Clinic faced an uncertain future — possibly even closure — until the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors stepped in.

On June 6, the Board voted unanimously to permanently subsidize the dental clinic, providing it an annual budget of $1.3 million through the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

“At LAC+USC, we have the unique opportunity to provide programs that improve the health and prosperity for all residents,” said First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, one of the clinic’s founding partners. “I want to thank DHS and [the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC] for working together to ensure continued delivery of pediatric dental services to our community’s most vulnerable children.”

The clinic is part of a medical village at the LAC+USC Medical Center that provides comprehensive health care treatment to the community’s most vulnerable children, including those with developmental disabilities.

Foster children in need

Born out of a partnership between Solis, Ostrow and the nonprofit Violence Intervention Program, the clinic was opened in 2016 to provide dental treatment to L.A. County’s foster care children.

“For the longest time, foster children have had an unmet need for dental care. It is often the first or second most-cited need,” said Roseann Mulligan, associate dean of community health programs and hospital affairs, in 2012. “This lack of care is due in part to the frequent moves from family to family that foster children undergo, which does not allow for the discovery and building of a relationship with a nearby dental office.”

Since opening, the Pediatric Dental Clinic, which is staffed by Ostrow faculty, staff, residents and students, has bridged the gap to dental care access for 2,300 foster children per year.

“The LAC+USC Pediatric Dental Clinic is much more than dental care; it is about delivering better health care to those who need it most,” Mulligan said. “We want to thank Supervisor Solis and DHS for their partnership as we look to find ways to improve the lives of all residents surrounding LAC+USC.”

For the past four years, the Pediatric Dental Clinic had been funded by the $18.4-million Children’s Health and Maintenance Program (CHAMP) grant, provided by First 5 LA from a 50-cent tobacco tax meant to pay for health care, education and child development programs. The CHAMP grant ends on August 31, 2018.

Ostrow has long been dedicated to providing dental treatment to underserved communities. With the country’s largest fleet of mobile dental clinics, a number of satellite clinics (including two on L.A.’s Skid Row) and a number of community partnerships, Ostrow provided treatment to nearly 72,000 underserved individuals last year.