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Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans last week to limit or slash several services in order to tighten the City’s budget.

He cut the workforce by 3,000 employees, canceled the January 2009 Police Academy class, reduced the City’s contribution to the Department of Education by $181 million this year and shaved subsidies to libraries and cultural institutions – and that was only the tip of the iceberg.

As part of his efforts, Bloomberg is shutting down all the City’s five Department of Health dental clinics, including the only one of its kind in Queens – Corona Dental Clinic, 34-33 Junction Blvd. Each of the five clinics, which operate year-round within City-run health centers and 39 community-based sites, including schools, will cease operation at the end of the fiscal year in June according to Jessica Scarperotti, a spokesperson for the Department of Health.

The Department’s Oral Health Program is a dental provider for low-income children in New York City. In total, the clinics serve approximately 17,000 children and adolescents under the age of 21 and 35,000 visits annually, Scarperotti said.

“We make these decisions and determine what reductions have to be made by looking to find programs that will have a relatively low impact on public health,” Scarperotti said, adding that the Corona Dental Clinic was only serving 1 percent of the population in Queens. “We try not create a service gap within the community.”

By closing the program, the City will achieve savings of $4.4 million gross in Fiscal Year 2010 and $5.3 million gross in Fiscal Year 2011, she said. The figures were released on the heels of Governor David Paterson’s projection about the State’s finances. New York faces a current-year budget shortfall of $1.5 billion and a $12.5 billion deficit in 2009-10 and, over the next four years, will confront a cumulative budget gap of $47 billion.

“Given our city’s decreased revenues and the uncertainty regarding funds from the state, service cuts and tax increases are, unfortunately, unavoidable,” Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said in a statement.

As a result of the closing, 92 employees, including dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants, will be laid off.

Scarperotti said the agency will work to ensure that families served by its Oral Health Program are aware of other sources of low-cost dental care, and it will help them make a smooth transition to a new provider. The agency will also help families access other low-cost dental services and will actively encourage families with Medicaid and other public health insurance to take advantage of their benefits, she said.