10 September 2021

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NYU Dentistry had been selected as site to address gap in dental services for veterans

Katherine E. Pfaff

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Tony Petrozza, who served as a mortar gunner and paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne in the U.S. Army in the 1980s, hadn’t received dental care for years.

“The VA has always taken great care of me, but never dental,” the Brooklyn veteran said. That’s why he said the latest development at the New York University College of Dentistry is a “godsend” to veterans.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs selected the NYU College of Dentistry, along with New Jersey’s Zufall Health Center and the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, to implement its new initiative, called the Veterans Oral Care Access Resource, part of the VA’s VetSmile program.

In New York, VETSmile began July 1 in partnership with the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System and seeks to provide comprehensive dental services to veterans like Mr. Petrozza in the New York City area who are not eligible to receive those services through the VA.

The  VA provides dental services on an annual basis to about 8% of the veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system, according to the Federal Register Notice of Intent for the Community Provider Collaborations for Veterans Pilot Program.

Source: https://www.ada.org/