UNIVERSITY OF BRIDGEPORT AWARDED $50,000 IN GRANTS FROM THE DELTA DENTAL OF NEW JERSEY FOUNDATION

- University using funds to open new dental hygiene clinic -

PARSIPPANY, NJ (March 5, 2008)

The Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation (Delta Dental) is proud to announce the University of Bridgeport among the recipients of their 2008 grants. Delta Dental awarded the university $50,000 to forward its efforts in aiding the community by renovating and reopening the Fones School of Dental Hygiene Clinic, the oldest dental hygiene program in the country. Each year, the Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation chooses organizations and healthcare facilities that will best use their grants to make dental care accessible to underserved children, families, developmentally disabled, and senior citizens. 

In 2008, the Foundation is allocating over $700,000 in grants to help provide access to dental care for the underserved as well as dental education throughout New Jersey and Connecticut.

“The Foundation is proud to support the efforts of the University of Bridgeport’s Fones School of Dental Hygiene Clinic,” said Gene F. Napoliello, D.D.S., President, Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation. “We have chosen the university because we saw the necessity for the renovations to enable the clinic to provide dental care for those who need it most.” 

The grant helped fund a project that included moving the Fones School into the Health Sciences Building, complete with smart classrooms, dental material labs, and resource rooms. The clinic has been furnished with 30 new medical chairs and fixtures, sterilization lab, radiology area, dental materials clinic lab, faculty computer stations, and consultation room. 

The value of clinical and outreach services to Connecticut residents are more than $500,000 a year. The clinic at the University of Bridgeport provides complete dental hygiene services to more than 1,450 patients a year, while the outreach clinics provide services to over 1,500 patients a year, as well as screening and instruction to 10,000 community residents each year.

About Delta Dental of New Jersey
Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc., is New Jersey’s and Connecticut's leading dental benefits carrier, providing coverage to more than one million people through contracts with employers in New Jersey and Connecticut. The Delta Dental system offers seamless dental benefits administration for employer groups throughout the country and the largest network of credentialed dentists in the nation. For more information visit us on the Web at www.deltadentalnj.com.

About the Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation
Delta Dental established the Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation in 1986. Its mission includes promoting and assisting educational projects devoted to the enhancement of dental health, research programs designed to increase public awareness of the general benefits of good health, and to improve dental health through the science of dentistry. Each year, the Delta Dental Foundation provides financial support to various organizations throughout the state.