Delta Dental gives $25,000 to Indiana kids' program

Aug 24, 2009

A $25,000 grant from the Delta Dental Foundation is helping Indiana University continue its Seal Indiana program for another school year.

Seal Indiana is a mobile dental program operated by the Indiana University School of Dentistry that offers preventive services such as examinations, dental sealants, and fluoride varnish treatments.

The program travels to schools within a 120-mile radius of Indianapolis to treat children from low-income families who are not receiving or do not have access to routine dental care.

"The continuing funding from Delta Dental Foundation has enabled Seal Indiana to take preventive dental services to children who wouldn't receive it otherwise," said Karen Yoder, Ph.D., M.S.D., a professor and the director of the division of community dentistry at Indiana University, in a press release.

Parents of children seen through Seal Indiana receive a written report about their child's oral health. In addition, a faculty dentist from Indiana University calls parents of children with severe dental decay to talk about the importance of follow-up care and information on how to apply for the state's Hoosier Healthwise program. The program is staffed in part by fourth-year dental students.

"They can see the unfortunate results of lack of access to dental care," Dr. Yoder said. "We're sure that as Indiana's future dentists, they will have a better understanding of the barriers that some families experience in getting dental care and will actively participate in solving the problem."