Ever increasing numbers of South Carolinians are plagued by oral cancers, periodontal diseases and dental caries. Reducing the burden of these oral diseases, which is shouldered primarily by South Carolina’s underserved, requires not only resources but organization.

Thanks to a grant from the Healthy South Carolina Initiative, MUSC’s College of Dental Medicine (CDM) is doing just that—organizing and expanding its community outreach programs to better serve our state.

As a community academic coordinator and the newest addition to the Division of Dental Public Health and Oral Epidemiology, Sharon Crossley, MPH, will serve as a central point where dental faculty, students and the community can obtain assistance in developing and evaluating outreach programs.

“The College of Dental Medicine receives many requests for community-based dental programs from the state, counties and local neighborhood communities,” said Linda M. Kaste, Ph.D., principal investigator and director of the Division of Dental Public Health and Oral Epidemiology Department of Stomatology. “And until now, no mechanism existed for handling these requests.”

Crossley, a registered dental hygienist, comes to MUSC with many years of public health experience. Her first task as community academic coordinator is to assess existing CDM outreach. Established programs like the Student National Dental Association’s participation in the annual Charleston City Gym Health Fair will become the foundation of a database of all CDM academic/community partnerships.

“South Carolina demonstrates disparity with regard to access to dentists and oral health status,” said Susan G. Reed, DrPH, co-principal investigator and assistant professor, Division of Dental Public Health and Oral Epidemiology. “Oral diseases are found disproportionately high among people with low levels of income and education.”

Through her work with the community, Crossley can help identify barriers to care and available resources—information that will greatly assist the state and the College of Dental Medicine in formulating strategies and establishing priorities to meet the dental health needs of the public.

More experience with community-based programs will also better prepare MUSC students, our future dental health providers, to serve needs of their community.

“Methods for incorporating communities with special needs into health programs are important as they face many problems affecting their health—especially their dental health,” said Charles E. Young, chairman of Charleston’s Enterprise Community Advisory Committee in his letter of support for this Healthy South Carolina grant.

Crossley, Kaste and Reed are guided in their efforts by both an Internal and External Advisory Board. Bringing together national, state and local health promotion leaders, the external committee can provide an objective viewpoint on what works or what doesn’t. “Their expertise is a valuable resource for us,” Kaste said. And the internal advisory group brings faculty from throughout the CDM, for more communication on a regular basis.

A similar position at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where Reed completed her dental public health residency and received a DrPH degree, served as a model for the CDM’s community academic coordinator. An external evaluation report on the Michigan project described the role of the community academic liaison as “critical in facilitating relationships among the academic and community partners.” The University of Michigan’s community academic liaison coordinator also serves on MUSC’s CDM External Advisory Board.

The new position also answers a recent call to dental schools by an Institute of Medicine Report, “Dental Education at the Crossroads: Challenges and Change,” to participate in addressing the oral health needs of the underserved.

“The need for dental involvement is perceived at both local and state levels,” Kaste said. “With this project, we plan to help address that need more effectively.”