Focus on Service

Dental care is the number one unmet healthcare need of underserved populations in Ohio. The College of Dentistry’s H.O.M.E. (Health Outreach Mobile Experience) Coach is a pediatric mobile dental clinic that travels to Columbus City and central Ohio schools providing great dental care.

An Ohio Family Health survey found that about 36 percent of working families have no dental insurance.  The dental H.O.M.E. Coach serves these children by accepting only public health insurance – and no payments are required if patients are uninsured. 

The Dental H.O.M.E. Coach is an outreach program that strives to meet the oral health needs of Ohioans in key underserved areas while training sensitive and culturally competent health professionals.  The H.O.M.E. Coach program focuses on three main goals:

1. To provide underserved children with oral health care that offers them a dental “home.”
2. To give dental students an array of hands-on learning experiences that include pediatric dentistry treatments performed under the supervision of licensed Ohio State faculty members.  The Coach experience is a component of the integrated curriculum for all senior dental students.
3. To positively impact the problems of access to oral health care for Ohio’s families.