Some 25,000 Kentucky children in Appalachia will receive preventive oral health services through a new pilot program announced by Gov. Steve Beshear.
The Smiling Schools program is funded through a $1 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and $250,000 in state general fund dollars. Beshear currently serves as the 2011 States' ARC co-chair.
During the 2011-2012 school year, protective fluoride varnish treatment and educational materials for healthy dental practices will be offered to 25,000 children in first through fifth grades at selected schools in 16 ARC distressed counties: Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Elliott, Floyd, Harlan, Jackson, Knott, Knox, Lee, Magoffin, Menifee, Owsley, Perry, Russell, and Wolfe.
As part of the Smiling Schools program, the Oral Health Program in the Department for Public Health will also conduct outreach in eastern Kentucky to help increase public awareness of the importance of children's dental health.
The University of Kentucky College of Dentistry will perform oral exams on a sampling of children in the pilot project prior to the first varnish application to document the initial condition of their teeth. The second treatment will be applied four to six months later. Following two fluoride varnish treatments, the children will again be examined to determine the effectiveness of the varnish in stopping decay.
All children in the selected schools will be given the opportunity to have a dental screening.
