General News

NYU Dentistry and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to Provide Dental Care for Veterans with Blood Cancer

NYU COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY has received a significant gift from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to create a pilot program to provide financial support for dental care for U.S. military veterans with blood cancer. Care will be provided at the NYU Dentistry Oral Health Center for People with Disabilities, where the staff are trained with special skillsets to ensure quality treatment and holistic care for people with disabilities and complex medical conditions.

Cancer patients have unique oral health needs and may require dental care before starting treatment or after to address treatmentrelated issues. Before beginning cancer treatment, and especially prior to undergoing a stem cell transplant, which suppresses the immune system, blood cancer patients may need to see a dentist to address existing dental issues such as infections. Unresolved dental issues can result in serious complications, including sepsis, and can compromise treatment. Moreover, many cancer patients are at high risk for oral complications—including mouth sores, bleeding gums and tooth decay—that result from cancer treatment.

Only a small subset of veterans, including those with a serviceconnected dental disability or former prisoners of war, are eligible for dental care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As a result, most veterans who receive medical care through the VA— and, when faced with a blood cancer diagnosis, undergo cancer treatment at the VA—may not have access to dental care that they can afford.

The gift from LLS will establish a patient care access fund at NYU Dentistry to enable veterans with blood cancer to receive comprehensive dental care at no out-of-pocket cost. The financial assistance will cover the cost of dental procedures required to begin cancer treatment or needed because of treatment. With this pilot, NYU Dentistry expects to provide 250 to 300 patient visits for veterans within a 12-month period. Based on the success of the pilot, LLS, in consultation with NYU Dentistry, plans to expand the program to additional sites for care.

“Facilitating lifesaving dental care for veterans with blood cancer is critical for this especially vulnerable population,” said Charles N. Bertolami, D.D.S,, D.Med.Sc., the Herman Robert Fox Dean of NYU Dentistry. “NYU Dentistry is honored to be the recipient of financial support from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and to help advance its mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma, and improve the quality of life for patients and their families,” he added.

The new program builds on and expands NYU Dentistry’s successful pilot program for veterans that began in July 2021, when NYU Dentistry was selected by the VA to implement the Veterans Oral Care Access Resource (VOCARE) as part of the VA’s VETSmile pilot program. VETSmile/VOCARE provides comprehensive dental services to veterans in the New York City area that the VA is unable to provide. During the first year of VETSmile/VOCARE, NYU Dentistry provided dental care to 1,022 veterans over 5,643 visits, and completed 10,821 procedures.

The VA New York Harbor Healthcare System—which includes campuses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island—refers eligible veterans to NYU to receive dental services through the VETSmile/VOCARE program. This referral arrangement will continue with the new LLS-supported program for veterans with blood cancer.

OSA Conference to Meet in October

THE FOURTH ANNUAL Breathing Wellness Conference, dedicated to expanding knowledge of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and its impact on overall health, is set to take place Oct. 26-29 at the Hilton Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. Conference host is The Vivos Institute, the educational branch of Vivos Therapeutics.

The conference is expected to attract dentists, dental teams and medical doctors from around the world, who will also have the opportunity to explore the latest innovations in dental sleep medicine and how they can be implemented within their own practices.

An estimated 22 million Americans suffer from OSA while another 80 percent remain undiagnosed, exacerbating chronic conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and chronic fatigue. For more information about the conference, including registration, visit www.thevivosinstitute.com/bwc22.