Delta Dental Awards $50,000 Grant to Georgia Tech to Improve Quality and Access to Care in Community Clinics
Technologies Designed to Improve Care and Increase Access to Oral
Healthcare for Underserved/Vulnerable Patients
ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(Business Wire)--
Delta Dental Insurance Company announced today the award of a
$50,000 grant to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) at the
Georgia Institute of Technology to support free and low-cost community
clinics that provide care for thousands of underserved residents in
Georgia.
Associations between periodontal disease and heart disease and
other medical-dental correlations have been studied and identified.
Early identification of at-risk patients can be used to ensure that
proper diagnosis and preventive treatments are performed and
coordinated between the medical and dental teams involved. Today,
however, many of the technology tools necessary to coordinate care are
either unavailable or prohibitively costly.
GTRI's community clinic initiative is focused on developing
low-cost, advanced technologies that are designed specifically for the
unique needs of community clinics that provide essential health care
to the uninsured in the state of Georgia. The goal of the program is
to provide tools and information to the health care professionals in
these clinics to enable them to initiate the appropriate preventive
treatments to reduce the chance of patients developing disorders that
would later require more expensive services.
"By providing these new technologies to the clinics, we are hoping
to allow the doctors to provide patient-specific preventive care while
they are treating the patient's existing conditions" said Jeffery J.
Sitterle, Ph.D., chief scientist and director of the Dental Technology
Center at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. "These preventive
treatments will reduce the severity of future disorders these patients
may develop, which can reduce the costs of operating community clinics
and allow more of the population to be served by these clinics."
"We're pleased to be able to support such an important contributor
to community health," said Marilynn D. Belek, DMD, chief dental
officer and executive vice president of Delta Dental Insurance
Company. "Our corporate mission is to provide access to dental care to
as many people as possible because we know how important oral health
is to overall health. It's gratifying, both professionally and
personally, to help advance the philanthropic efforts of this unique
project."
The research grant will be used to help fund new technology, which
includes chartless record-keeping, digital treatment plans and
imaging, among other cutting-edge practices, as well as "decision
aides" for health care providers, based on overall health
relationships that will allow doctors and dentists to identify
necessary preventive treatments - both oral and medical.
"The involvement of Delta Dental in this project is critical to it
success" said Sitterle. "Not only is their financial support very
appreciated, but their corporate knowledge of the most effective
dental preventive care treatments provides the evidence-based
information necessary to allow us to develop tools that support the
doctors in determining the best care for each patient."
Assisting with the project is the Georgia Free Clinic Network, an
organization that facilitates communication and sharing of resources
among the clinics in Georgia. Additionally, Georgia Tech is currently
enlisting the collaboration of the Ben Massell Dental Clinic, which
will be moving to a new facility near the Georgia Tech campus, the
Good Samaritan Clinic in Atlanta, the Good News Clinic in Gainesville
and St. Joseph's Mercy Clinics in Atlanta.
"Being part of the implementation of these technologies in a
dental clinic is an honor, and we're doubly proud that the Ben Massell
Dental Clinic will serve as a dental delivery model as well," Belek
noted.
About Delta Dental
Delta Dental Insurance Company, along with its affiliates, is part
of a San Francisco-based holding company system that collectively
serves 23 million enrollees in both commercial and
government-sponsored programs in 15 states, the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico. It is also part of the Delta Dental Plans
Association, whose member companies cooperate on programs that cover
more than 50 million enrollees nationwide.
About The Georgia Tech Research Institute
The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the applied research
unit of the Georgia Institute of Technology, a leading university
specializing in technology-based biomedical research and education.
GTRI employs over 1,300 people in six states and Ireland and focuses
on solving tough technical problems with innovative solutions that are
implemented in real-word environments, including clinical settings.
GTRI offers a wealth of applied information technology and informatics
expertise on both state and national levels, which complements the
innovative, interdisciplinary research and education efforts applied
to dental and craniofacial medicine through its internationally
recognized Dental Technology Center.
Delta Dental
Elizabeth Risberg, 415-972-8423
erisberg@delta.org
or
Georgia Tech
Jeffrey Sitterle, 404-407-7369
jeff.sitterle@gtri.gatech.edu
Copyright Business Wire 2008
