Maui Oral Health Center is now providing dental treatment to Maui/Moloka`i Drug Court clients and their minor children.

Lack of access to dental treatment has been identified as a major impediment to the well-being and rehabilitation of Drug Court clients, according to S. Larry Schlesinger, president of the Friends of the Maui Drug Court.

The Wailuku-based Maui Oral Health Center is a project of Maui Community College, the County of Maui, the State Department of Health and the Maui County Oral Health Task Force.

Students in MCC's Dental Assisting Program are part of the clinical team at Maui Oral Health Center, which provides dental services to underserved, low-income and uninsured families under the leadership of Clinical Director Spencer Owades.

"This partnership to provide much-need dental treatment will remove an obstacle to the rehabilitative work of the Drug Court," Schlesinger said.