These grants help expand the capacity of the dental care safety net (public dental clinics, school-based dental care and mobile/portable dental care programs) to serve Ohioans who are unable to afford private dental care.  The Safety Net Dental Care Program provides funding for comprehensive (diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic) services for a significant number of Ohioans who cannot afford and would not otherwise receive care and strives to reduce disparities in access to dental care. Funding may support the cost of clinic operations (by offsetting costs of uncompensated care) and/or the start up of new, or the expansion of, existing safety net programs. 

The Bureau of Oral Health Services provides funding to 16 local agencies (see list of funded agencies.) Grants are awarded on a two-year cycle.  The second year of the two-year cycle began in January 2009.