Five-year old Shi’raneri Davis can now visit a dentist in her medical home, the Harriet Lane Clinic at Hopkins Children’s. Family dentist John Taylor, who runs a mobile dental service out of St. Francis Neighborhood Center in Baltimore City, hangs his shingle outside one of the Lane’s exam rooms every Tuesday afternoon.

“For most of my patients, I’m their first dentist,” says Taylor, brought into the Lane in 2005. “It is such rewarding work.”

Taylor’s practice is a forerunner to the future as Johns Hopkins is on the cusp of reinvigorating its pediatric dental program. Nationwide, cavities are on the rise in children, while the number of dentists, in particular those who accept Medicaid, are declining. Related deaths in children, including that of a Maryland boy who died recently from a tooth infection that spread to his brain, are adding urgency to the need for more dental services.

“It makes sense that a pediatric medical institution ranked among the top three in the nation should have an active community dental practice,” says James Christian, director of the Division of Dentistry and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Johns Hopkins since 2007. “There are far too few Medicaid dental providers and many of our pediatric patients have medical issues that not only require highly specialized dentistry, but good oral health care.”

Christian’s hospital practice, which now includes two general dentists, two oral surgeons and a prosthodontist, is expected soon to add a part-time pediatric dentist, in addition to Taylor. A general practice dental residency program in the hospital, under the direction of Ghassan Sinada, is set to begin in July 2008 and to include training in the Harriet Lane. “Ultimately, I’d like Hopkins Children’s to have a thriving practice with a full-time pediatric dentist,” Christian says.

The addition of dentistry compliments the clinic’s increasingly comprehensive health menu, which now includes legal and psychiatric services, and family counseling. “The lack of physical access, not medical coverage, has been our patients’ chief barrier to dental care,” says Lane director George Siberry. “So we’re working to offer it here.”