Lake County News - 'Saving smiles: Childrens dental program takes aim at preventing major health issues'

The last place most kids want to be on a Saturday morning is the dentist's office, but it's not such a bad place if you get to brush a dinosaur's teeth.

At the Mendocino Community Health Clinic Inc.'s Hillside Health Center in Lakeport, Saturday was “Give Kids A Smile Day,” an event normally marked on the first Saturday in February, which also is Children's Dental Health Month.

Congressman Mike Thompson, visiting the clinic to see the program in action, watched as a small girl with a shy smile stepped up with an oversized toothbrush to show proper brushing technique on a green dinosaur puppet outfitted with a set of straight, perfect but decidedly human-looking teeth.

He asked her if she brushed her own teeth. She flashed him a charming, wide-eyed smile and nodded.

Jendi Coursey, the clinic's public relations director, said that about 60 children, whose families would otherwise be unable to afford critical dental care, were being seen by dentists throughout the day Saturday.

The people providing the services were volunteering to do so, said Coursey.

Just around the corner from the waiting room and the dinosaur puppet the little girl's older sister was having some much-needed dental work.

The girl, lying back in the chair, her small hands clutched in fists against the discomfort and her cheeks puffed with gauze, was recovering from having some diseased baby teeth pulled. Her dad stood by, soothing her.

The dentist showed Thompson the girl's dental x-rays, explaining that the 7-year-old first grader had been experiencing pain when biting down and was suffering from toothache.

It's that kind of distracting pain that impacts children, said Coursey. It affects their ability to concentrate in classrooms and even their ability to physically thrive and grow because of lack of nourishment.

Dentistry “is a foundational piece of health for kids,” said Coursey.

Officials with the clinic emphasized dental health's impact on other kinds of health, including heart health.

Despite the importance of such care, Coursey said funding for dental health programs was pulled in 2009.

Thompson - whose wife is a nurse - noted his own concerns about dwindling federal appropriations, and pointed out that preventive health measures are far less expensive that long run health issues later, with children more expensive to care for in acute settings, a statement with which clinic officials agreed.

Enter the Care for Kids Smiles Program, which aims to help children in Lake and Mendocino counties.

The program is a partnership of Mendocino Community Health Clinic, First 5 Mendocino, First 5 Lake, Lake County Dental Disease Prevention Program, Lake County Office of Education, Mendocino County Office of Education, North Coast Opportunities Early Head Start and Head Start, Lake County Maternal/Child Health Advisory Board, Alliance for Rural Community Health and HealthCorps.

“Lake County has totally come together to make this happen,” Coursey said.

Coursey said the First 5 funding is the glue that holds together the effort, preventing duplication of services and increasing communication between the partners.

The encouraging part, said Coursey, is that the dentists they work with are seeing better dental health and hygiene among their young patients.

“We've really made a change in the community,” said Marta Fuller, coordinator for the county's Dental Disease Prevention Program, and a stalwart voice for children's dental care in Lake County for many years.

That difference is reflected in a report on the Lake county Children's Oral Health Project's accomplishments between 2002 and 2010, with that group's primary partners being most of the same groups involved in the Smiles Program.

In eight years the project offered 16,480 dental screenings for children age birth to 18, and 7,480 dental treatments.

A review of four elementary schools - Minnie Cannon, Upper Lake, Pomo and Lower Lake - showed that the number of children with no cavities or tooth decay increased from 14 percent to 23 percent. At the same time, five preschools - Lucerne, Lower Lake, Middletown, Pomo and Kelseyville - showed cavity- and tooth decay-free children increasing from 36 percent to 46 percent.

An important part of the Smiles Program's approach is seeing health as a total picture, Fuller explained.

“We don't separate teeth from the rest of the body,” she said. “It's all linked.”

The program offers many children their first visit to a dentist, Coursey said.

HealthCorps member Emma Catherwood showed Thompson the fluoride demonstration she presents to children, using fluoride on a hard boiled egg to demonstrate how it hardens the shell. She also soaks the eggs in cola to show how it can stain tooth enamel.

Coursey said the program is seeing an increasingly higher number of parents who are returning forms that allow fluoride teeth varnishing, which hardens young teeth just like it did that eggshell Catherwood showed.

Since last October, the Smiles Program has educated approximately 1,019 students about dental health, Catherwood said.

The education component includes instruction on brushing techniques and what causes cavities, with teens learning about the dangers of smoking and eating disorders, and how braces help teeth, according to a program brochure.

The program's education doesn't just stop with children. It also provides free group education for parents who want to learn how to care for their children's teeth.

The Smiles Program arranges oral health screenings for selected grades, which is meant to bring attention to potential dental problems.

For additional information about the Smiles Program, contact Vianney Vargas, the program coordinator for Lakeside Health Center, at 707-262-3212.