PROJECT: DENTISTS CARE

Project: Dentists Care (PDC) is a dental access to care program established and supported by the Florida Dental Association (FDA). It consists of a community of dentists who volunteer their time and services to provide a safety net of preventive and restorative dental care to those in greatest need. To locate a PDC Dentist in your area (search by county) please use the PDC Resource Guide.

The mission of PDC is to establish dental-access programs statewide. Patients who receive services under PDC are typically low-income individuals who do not qualify for public assistance but have the greatest unmet needs. Monies to conduct PDC projects come from special events fundraisers, public donations and private grants. The Florida Dental Health Foundation (FDHF) is a key source of operational funding for PDC programs.

PDC member chapters are in the process of being established in county/multi-county areas and service the needy in those areas. In addition to the member chapters, PDC also consists of associate members who are private non profit organizations that offer low cost or reduced fee dental services to eligible underserved population groups. Each PDC chapter has a coordinator who works within a local dental association’s organizational structure to recruit volunteer dentists to provide pro-bono or reduced fee dental care to eligible indivduals.

PDC programs may be restricted to the county in which you reside, and eligibility requirements exist for all programs, some varying by county.

For more information about providers in your area, see the PDC Resource Guide. The PDC resource guide is a portable document file [PDF] which is updated monthly to ensure that provider information is always accurate (last updated July 8, 2008--use your Adobe search box to locate providers geographically by county).

PDC has received the American Dental Association’s Golden Apple Award for “Excellence in Dental Health Promotion.” In Florida, this project is a key example of how state government programs; private health care practitioners and non profit dental organizations can work together to improve the health of their local communities.