Dental Alums Take Care Into Schools and Neighborhoods

From the Fall 2008 issue of UConn Health Center Magazine.

School today still means the three R’s, but for children in Hartford, Conn., it also often means their only access to affordable dental care.

Nicola Kennedy, D.M.D. ’98, and Jamie Motyka, D.M.D. ‘97, are part of a team of dentists and hygienists who make that care possible through the Hartford Board of Education’s school-based dental clinics.

The program runs more than a dozen full-service clinics and satellite offices in Hartford’s schools, offering an impressive range of services for children, including extractions, crowns, root canals and much more. During the past three years, more than 50,000 procedures were performed on more than 4,000 patients.

Kennedy says the fast-paced challenge of the job really appeals to her.

“After graduation I went into private practice, but it just didn’t give me the job satisfaction I wanted,” Kennedy says. “I knew I really wanted to work with kids and soon found out about this program from a hygienist I worked with. They needed dentists badly; and of course there’s an immense need for treatment, prevention and education. We’re very busy, but this is a great fit for me.”

Motyka also left private practice and has worked in the program for a decade. She says it is “the most gratifying experience of my life.”

In addition to the fixed, school-based facilities, the program utilizes the “Molar Express,” a full-size recreational vehicle that visits nonclinic sites throughout the school year and for four weeks during the summer. It features two dental chairs and an X-ray machine, and it offers the same comprehensive dental services as the clinics.

The entire program is funded by grants and support from the Hartford Public Schools, as well as the state’s HUSKY program, and serves all children in all Hartford public schools.

Most of their patients, though, are in the elementary grades. Typically, they see students during the school day, after parents give their permission for services. They also handle some emergency calls throughout the year.

“We’re never short of patients,” Kennedy says.
“Once kids leave a school with a clinic, we even find that some come back to us. They may have been nervous about going to a dentist on their own, and we’ve basically become their primary dentist.”

She says that her education at UConn’s School of Dental Medicine prepared her well for the environment in which she works.

“The dental school curriculum made us well rounded. As dental students, we also were given a lot of exposure to medicine, so I feel comfortable working with a range of conditions such as diabetes or with children taking many medications. I feel that we were given a solid, practical education.”