The Marquette University School of Dentistry received a one million dollar grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services last month that will increase dental access for underprivileged Wisconsin children and families.

The grant will support the build out of two Milwaukee city clinic sites that Marquette University has operated out of in the past but were recently shut down by the state.,”

Marquette's School of Dentistry will receive a $1 million grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services that will increase dental access for underprivileged Wisconsin children and families.

The grant will support two Milwaukee city clinic sites out of which Marquette has operated in the past but were shut down by the state in 2006.

The School of Dentistry provides dental services to approximately 20,000 patients a year statewide. Of those patients, about 14,000 are treated out of three Milwaukee sites.

According to William Lobb, dean of the School of Dentistry, the two city clinic sites that were closed treated approximately 2,000 patients, but the $1 million grant will allow the Marquette School of Dentistry to continue with regular work.

"These funds allow us to replace the clinics that were lost through the closure of the previous sites, so this really means that we will be able to carry on with programming we have done for the past few decades," Lobb said.

The clinics are important because they help provide health care for the underprivileged and also allow pre-doctoral students to gain clinical experience in all aspects of dental treatments, he said.

"Marquette University School of Dentistry has always been a provider of oral health care to underserved populations at our pre-existing sites," Lobb said. "I believe that the decision to provide this funding to Marquette University reflects the confidence that others have in our ability to be a part of the solution to oral health care services within the city of Milwaukee."

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