Bringing dental care to kids is helping with dental care in the pandemic

“Look at yourself. You’re the expert at your first dental visit. I’m so proud of you,” Davis told the kindergartner, who got up from the chair and was hugged by a teacher’s assistant. Portable Clinic by NYU College of Dentistry CarriedAway New Hampshire is part of a growing cavity prevention program and is being rolled out in Concord and two other New Hampshire districts. CarryAway New Hampshire is part of a growing effort to improve pediatric oral health, particularly in children from low-income families. There are hopes to expand into Maine and Vermont and eventually nationwide.

There are no good national estimates of dental programs in schools, but many large school districts have them. Boston University’s program operates in 20 schools and 30 preschools in Boston and eight other cities in Massachusetts and covers 3,000 children ages 6 months to 21 years. In New York City, 81,000 students in 820 schools — slightly more than half of all public schools — were treated last school year. Nationwide Children’s Hospital has seen 1,700 children in central Ohio since 2021 with its rotating school-based dental clinics, while Minnesota nonprofit Ready, Set, Smile is in 44 schools across the Twin Cities, serving 2,225 children. Has been.

“Dental care is typically viewed as an extra or an add-on,” said Terry Chandler, founder and executive director of Future Smiles in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas and serves 7,500 children in 75 schools. provides service. “It’s not part of medical care.” Nearly half of U.S. children do not receive routine dental care, according to a 2022 report from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, a federal agency. This can quickly lead to cavities: According to the U.S., more than half of children ages 6 to 8 have at least one cavity in their teeth, and more than half of teens ages 12 to 19 have a cavity. Less than 100,000 people have a cavity in a permanent tooth. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Katherine Hayes of Harvard School of Dental Medicine said that too many children fail to see a dentist before entering school—leaving them To get treatment for tooth cavity, one has to go to the hospital.

“If their parents are not getting any type of oral health education at the doctor’s office, these children develop extensive decay,” he said, adding that it can take a month or more to heal. . He added: ”…This is completely preventable. We know how to stop it.” At Boston Children’s Hospital, there is an eight- to nine-month waiting list for a dental clinic, said dentist-in-chief Man Ying Ng. Ng points in part to deteriorating dental care during the pandemic.

“I have patients who were going to bed without brushing their teeth. They ate and drank at all hours of the day because they were not normal daily routines,” Ng said. “They were not able to engage in preventive dental care. Due to lack of timely care, children are developing more dental diseases.” Ruth Langwell struggled to find a dentist for her 10-year-old granddaughter Lola, who has autism. She recently succeeded in bringing the girl to the clinic. “She needs someone who is very patient… We have tried two other dentists and they have been reluctant because of Lola’s challenges,” Langwell said, adding that she wanted Lola to Seen a dentist at age 2, but he didn’t. Until she turned five years old. Funding programs to build habits The challenge for many programs, especially mobile and school-based clinics, is sustainability, said Richard Neiderman, professor of epidemiology and health promotion at NYU Dentistry and founder of CarryAway. That’s because school-based programs like Neiderman’s rely heavily on donations as they often serve low-income populations that are either uninsured or on Medicaid.

Neiderman has spent two decades developing his program. Other efforts he led in the Bronx and Boston ended due to lack of funding, but this time, Neiderman has $1 million from Northeast Delta Dental, ensuring his New Hampshire program will last for at least three years. shall remain.

“It breaks my heart that kids aren’t getting the effective care that they could have… and the system doesn’t support that,” she said. But the picture of pediatric oral health is improving – even outside of school programs. Untreated tooth decay in preschool children has decreased by 50% since 2000, the Federal Dental Research Agency reports. This pointed to the increased use of sealants, which prevent cavities. Jane Grover, senior director of the American Dental Association’s Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention, said there has been a “tremendous growth” of dental programs in community health centers, as well as efforts to deploy dental hygienists in pediatric offices. Are.

Some states are also better at coordinating pediatric and dental care. MassHealth, the Medicaid program in Massachusetts, began requiring physicians last year to ensure that a child has had two fluoride varnish applications and refer them to a dentist, Hayes said.

“I remember my first dental cleaning, and it left a lasting impression,” Grover said. “We want kids to understand this, but we want their families to understand that on primary teeth where the enamel is a little thinner than on adult teeth, it doesn’t take much to drink sugar-sweetened beverages all day long. ..going from a potentially serious situation to an extremely serious situation.” Neiderman’s team treated more than 60 students a week at the Concord school. They included soft-spoken 10-year-old Evette Sesay, who dutifully explained how she brushes and flosses twice a day. She wondered aloud whether the treatment would “hurt”, but Davis assured her it shouldn’t – but she could raise a hand if she felt pain. Evette, who went to the clinic because she wanted to have her teeth “checked”, but never went. She said it felt like a normal exam at her dentist’s office: ”They cleaned my teeth very well. The bubble gum tasted good too.