3rd Annual New England Rural Oral Health Conference
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"Exploring Workforce and Delivery Strategies"
September 9, 2008
Grappone Center, Concord, NH
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Presented
by:
The New England
Rural Health RoundTable
Featuring:
Marcia Brand, Ph.D
Associate Administrator for Health Professions, HRSA, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Jack Dillenberg,
DDS, MPH, Dean of the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health, Mesa Arizona
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WANTED:
Dentists to Make a Difference
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By becoming a HUSKY dental provider you'll be providing services and helping children who really need your help. One in four of Connecticut children are in the HUSKY  program. Their families could not afford to provide needed medical or dental care without HUSKY. Our HUSKY children need caring dentists and hygienists, in fact, they need you. Fact Sheet for Dental ProvidersTips for EnrollingTop Ten Reasons |
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Some States Making Schools
Require Dental Exams
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June 1, 2008 WMAR-TV Baltimore MD
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Some states are trying to fill
in a potentially deadly gap in health care for children by seeking
proof of good dental health before they enter school.
 New
York in September will join seven states and the District of Columbia
in adopting school-based measures to ensure dental health. But the
existing regulations have weaknesses, the result of political and
fiscal compromise to become laws at all. And despite the death of a
12-year-old boy last year in Maryland by brain infection that started
as a toothache, many parents aren't taking the effort seriously despite
the distraction from school studies and lifelong complications tooth
decay can bring.
A recession and
diminishing health care coverage can push dental care further down a
family's priority, where it may be seen mostly as a cosmetic issue,
according to national dental associations. "I
have memories of 10 or 12 times when I panicked when I saw the child,"
said Dr. Beverly A. Largent, a dentist specializing in children's teeth
for 23 years in the rural Kentucky town of Paducah. Especially in poor
urban and rural areas nationwide, children often only get dental care
when the pain and swelling are too much to bear, she said.
"I
have seen children with their eyes swollen shut," said Largent,
president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. A week ago
she was in the hospital treating a child with multiple cavities when
she got an emergency call from a mother whose child's face was swollen
and had to be taken to the emergency room.
. . .
Deamonte
Driver of Prince George's County in Maryland had a toothache that his
mother, on a low fixed income, couldn't get treated quickly partly
because it's hard to find dentists who will take Medicaid or deeply
discount care for children in families of the working poor. After
two operations and a long hospital stay paid by Medicaid, the
12-year-old boy died of an infection in his brain. The Washington Post
estimated the public cost of care at more than $250,000. In most places, taking care of the tooth early would have cost $60.
Such
cases have so far helped prompt school-based dental health action in
District of Columbia, California, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa,
Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to Fred
L. Peterson of the American Dental Association.
The
methods range from the rare requirement that students get a full dental
exam before entering school to a screening with a tongue depressor and
flashlight by a hygienist.
New York's law,
for example, requests that parents provide a dental health certificate
showing the student has seen a dentist before entering second, fourth,
seventh and 10th grades.
. . .
A
new program will bring dental screenings to Head Start programs to a
half-dozen states this summer, with a goal to build a nationwide
network in five years, said Marianthi Bumbaris of the American Academy
of Pediatric Dentistry based in Chicago. The group says tooth decay is
five times more common than asthma in children, four times more common
that childhood obesity and 20 times more common than childhood diabetes.
. . .
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Read the Full Story . . .
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Clinic dedicated in Belden's honor |
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By Gabriella Doob, Editor June 13, 2008Speakers at a dedication ceremony Tuesday for the
Richard O. Belden Dental Clinic were unanimous - if Belden were there,
he would have been uncomfortable with all the praise lavished upon him.
... Training, Education and Manpower Inc. (TEAM) named its new dental
facility  after the late state representative, who speakers said was
committed to extending dental services to low-income residents
throughout the Valley. Belden's work helped secure $900,000 in state funds to help build the $1.2 million clinic. Located at 30 Elizabeth St., the clinic will present an
affordable alternative for those without dental care, said TEAM
President and CEO Richard Knoll. The staff plans to implement a sliding
fee system for Valley residents without dental insurance. The 5,000 square-foot dental facility, which is part of the Hill
Health Corp. system of regional health services, will be open full time
to treat adults and children, including residents who are uninsured and
without access to dental care. In
September 2006, TEAM applied to the state for bond funds to refurbish
an empty second floor into a dental clinic. The state grant, which
Belden pushed for, was approved in March 2007. Funding came
from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, as well as from
grants from the Connecticut Health Foundation and the Ronald McDonald
House. United Healthcare and American Honda Motor
Corp. and Annie Casey Family Services donated furniture while Reuben
Mark, chairman of the Colgate Palmolive Co., donated $10,000 along with
$10,000 from Colgate Palmolive. ... Though Belden, who died in
August, did not live to see the opening of the clinic he helped launch,
those at the ceremony paid homage to his memory. ... Dr. Ronald Linden, of Valley Dental Coalition, said the new
facility is cutting-edge and will serve as a model not only for the
state but for the country as a whole. ...
©Shelton Weekly 2008 Read the Full Article ...
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