Dental-Office-in-a-Box Pops Up In Schools
New Britain Start Smiling Program
November 16, 2006
by Melissa Bailey
This second-grader slipped out of class for a quick
sealant fix this week without even leaving school.
The dental office, which serves the poor and
uninsured, pops up out of the trunk of a car.
The Community Health Center of New Britain’s Start
Smiling Program is on a 10-school tour of city
elementary schools, trying out a new form of mobile
dentistry for the first full year. The program's
open to all students, but is aimed at the poor and
uninsured.
Stacy Gorman, CHC’s mobile dental hygienist, arrived
at the Northend Elementary School in New Britain two
weeks ago. Within an hour, all the equipment had
been rolled up the ramp into the school — A cart of
dental power tools, a filing cabinet, plastic
storage containers, a foldable dentist’s chair, and
a big, yellow, toothy stuffed animal.
“OK,
we’re going to paint some jelly on your teeth,”
Gorman told Christina Sweeney as she sat quietly in
the dental chair during a recent visit. Christina,
who’s 7, was one of the 10 students Gorman treats
each day for cleanings and sealant work.
“It tickled,” reported Christina, choosing a sticker
and prize pencil before heading back to class.
Gorman spends one month at each school, reaching
about 10 percent of each school’s population —
primarily kids on state insurance (HUSKY A) who
wouldn’t otherwise be served. Some of the kids had
cavities so big that the school nurse could see big
holes in their molars with the naked eye.
At one New Britain school, a whopping 49 percent of
the students who came through Start Smiling’s dental
office had untreated cavities.
Start Smiling is part of a statewide movement begun
in the 1990s towards school-based dental programs.
School-based dental care makes going to the
dentist’s office just about as hassle-free as
possible. The whole trip from class to dental chair
and back takes less than half an hour. Kids are
cared for in a familiar environment. Parents don’t
have to miss work to play chauffeur.
At a time when kids miss more days of school for
dental pain than for asthma, the service is vital,
argued Jesse White-Frese, the Start Smiling project
director. White-Frese gave her pitch this week as to
why the newest mobile program might serve as a model
for other cities.
Click here to read more about children's dental, and how you can help.
Why it Works
The program’s tied to a community health center.
(CHC has one in New Britain.) Since HUSKY
reimbursement rates are higher for federally
recognized community health centers than for private
practice dentists, the affiliation proves key. HUSKY
kids are served for free; kids with no insurance pay
$30 per cleaning, less than a quarter of what they’d
pay at a private dentist.
The health center connection also means kids with
cavities can be referred to a clinic for cavity or
root-canal work, and can still get care after Gorman
heads to another school.
Compared to mobile dental vans, the overhead costs
of Start Smiling are relatively low, says
White-Frese: Equipment, including X-ray tools, costs
only about $26,000. The whole program — which has
one dental hygienist, two case coordinators, a
program director and a program manager — costs about
$200,000.
Start Smiling got its funding from a five-year grant
from the Connecticut Health Foundation through the
New Britain Oral Health Collaborative to support
kids’ dental care. (Full disclosure: The group also
funds the nonprofit that runs this website).
While dental vans sometimes generate their own
electricity, this dental program cuts that cost by
hooking into school heat and electricity. The dental
hygienist sets up shop inside the school -- in this
case, the nurse's office.
All it takes is convincing the school system to
share its space for a month.
Northend Principal Elsa Saavedra wasn’t sold at
first. “One of my concerns was how much instruction
would be lost” when kids duck out of class for
dental visits. But the program turned out to be
unobtrusive, she said. And she’s happy the school
can now provide another service at parents’
request.
“I would definitely invite them here again.”
Click here for more coverage of Health Care by the New Haven Independent.
Send us your news and stories on access to oral
health care issues for future
Updates.
Send them, in electronic to the
e-mail address below. One or two digital pictures
and/or graphics
are also good.
About Connecticut Oral Health Initiative
The Connecticut Oral Health Initiative, or COHI for
short, is a state-wide collaborative of dental
professionals, business and community leaders. Our
Mission is Oral Health Care for All. We work to
persuade, educate and inform decision makers and the
general public about the important issues involving
oral health. We started in 1992 as a project of the
Connecticut State Dental Association and
incorporated as a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit
corporation in 2003. We are supported by your
tax-deductible contribution and grants from
progressive foundations and businesses.
|
Connecticut Oral Health Initiative
Marty Milkovic
Executive Director
phone:
860-246-COHI (2644)
|
|
