Delta Dental awards grant to Lamprey Health Care

Lamprey Health Care has received a $2,500 grant from the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation to help fund its school-based dental program, a program that visits nine elementary schools in New Hampshire, to provide oral health education and dental services to children.

The primary goal of Lamprey's school-based dental program is to educate children, parents, and school personnel on the importance of a healthy mouth and provide them with the tools necessary to prevent dental disease.

The program provides oral hygiene instruction, nutritional counseling, dental hygiene education, and preventive care management tips for the children and the teachers, then reinforces the program with oral screenings, cleanings, and fluoride rinses. Local dentists volunteer their time and resources to the program by providing sealants to children in six of the schools, as needed.

"The program has been a terrific way to encourage the children to follow healthy habits for good dental health, and we send them home with toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste that are donated to the program by organizations such as Northeast Delta Dental," said Lamprey Health Care's dental hygienist Nancy Snow, who currently runs the school-based dental program. "In some cases, it's a blessing for the families, as they don't have the insurance or financial means to take their kids to the dentist."

This is the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation's 11th grant to the program.