The Center for Oral Health has joined insurers Liberty Dental Plan, Health Net, and Access Dental in a program to provide checkups and preventive treatments to Northern California school children.
The Early Smiles program, which starts this summer, aims to serve 12,000 children in elementary schools in the Sacramento area in the first year, the announcement said.
California children with dental pain miss 874,000 school days a year, which costs school districts $29 million in missed attendance fees.
The dental insurers will serve as dental homes for children in need of restorative treatment and provide case management.
