Dentists take their services into elementary schools

Dentists are setting up temporary offices in schools serving disadvantaged kids around the country, according to news reports.

St. Charles Parish public elementary schools in Louisiana this week reached an agreement with ReachOut Healthcare America through which dentists from the area will do examinations, cleanings, restorations, and nonsurgical extractions on school campuses, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported.

Based in Arizona, ReachOut Healthcare America specializes in bringing mobile dental and healthcare to the armed forces. School officials said the funding would come from Medicaid, the Louisiana Children's Health Insurance Program (LaCHIP), grants, and sponsors.

Similarly, Children's Dental Services is providing dental care in three schools in St. Paul, MN. "The concept of this school is to build a community, make it more welcoming to families by providing services that, up until this point, you could go all over town to provide. So, it's a great concept," Johnson Elementary principal Frank Feinberg told Minnesota Public Radio.

And in Kent, MI, Mobile Dentists provided examinations and sealants at five elementary schools and one middle school, according to a February 15, 2007, article on kentnewsnet.com, a news service of Kent State University students. Mobile Dentists provided a similar service to the Akron City School District, the article stated.