The Luba Slome Dental Center is located in Jerusalem’s Bar Ilan neighborhood.  Its dentists, including an orthodontist, endodontist and a periodontist, are all graduates of top dental schools in Israel, North America and Europe. The guiding philosophy of the clinic revolves around the idea that the entire staff is encouraged to build strong personal relationships with each patient.

Although a recent law in Israel mandates that dental care for children under the age of   15 be provided at minimal cost to the family, access to affordable, high-quality dental care for older children remains elusive for most less-affluent Israeli families (the typical child served at the clinic comes from a large and poor family). The Center fills a vital health-care need, as oral and dental health are keys to maintaining a child’s or adult’s  overall good health and well-being. Additionally, many forms of preventive care, as well as educational and community outreach activities provided by the Center, are not reimbursed by the government.

Preventive Care

The Center has become increasingly focused on preventive care. Preventing dental disease must be the primary goal of any pediatric dental care program. The Center’s early efforts at preventive care have proven to be highly effective. In a recent pilot study conducted at the clinic, more than 90% of cavity-prone children who participated, remained cavity-free after one year. This early encouraging result has the potential to impact dental care throughout Israel. In part, because of the results of the Slome Clinic’s work, the government of Israel has been mulling the idea to dedicate more of its resources for prevention. The Center has become a leading force in developing and expanding Israeli preventive dental care, and, in the process gaining the involvement of dental schools in Israel and the United States.

Education

The Clinic has also become an important publisher of educational materials that are aimed at the prevention of dental disease. Its “Family Dental Caries (Decay) Prevention Program” provides instruction to children and their families on how to make oral hygiene a part of their daily routine. Distribution methods for these materials have included: in-clinic instruction; a kindergarten teacher- training program that facilitates classroom instruction; and seminars offered to the general community. A special program directed towards educating physically and mentally challenged children, and their families, about the importance of dental care was also created.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The Center’s colorful brochures, games and activities are widely distributed, free of charge. So too, are toothbrushes. A significant number of the children with whom the Center interacts have never owned a toothbrush.  During the past several years, more than 5,000 children in Jerusalem schools have participated in one of the clinic’s outreach programs.