Dental Health Promotion Program - Essay Example

Tooth decay is the most common childhood disease in the United States (Governor’s Task Force on Children and Oral Health, 2009). In fact, poor oral health has been found to cause pain and infection in children that can result in several issues like difficulty in eating, speaking, playing, or paying attention in school (The Healthy States Initiative, 2008). Research has revealed that dental health issues result in the loss of nearly 50 million school hours each year – an issue that is 12 times more prevalent in low-income group children (The Healthy States Initiative, 2008). In Oklahoma, nearly 71.5% of third-graders have dental caries of which 40.2% have active decay – the highest rate in the country (Oklahoma State Department of Health, 2003). Considering these facts, the ‘Dental Health Promotion Program for Rural School Children aims to provide dental health screening and preventive services to the underserved children of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The ‘Dental Health Promotion Program for Rural School Children’ primarily focuses on reducing dental caries and improving oral health among the underserved children who study in rural schools in Oklahoma City. This school-based dental health program specifically targets children who are between the age of 6 and 10 years.
Two potential partners have been identified to successfully implement this program in Oklahoma City:
1. Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools (OROS): This is an organized group of over 400 rural schools in Oklahoma (Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools, 2007). During the first year of implementation, the OROS will help in conducting the dental health program at three schools in Oklahoma City which will be randomly selected. The OROS will also help implement this program in two additional schools every year thereafter so that this dental health prevention program can be extended to all underserved children living in Oklahoma City.
2. The University of Oklahoma, College of Dentistry: In addition to being a teaching institute, the University of Oklahoma, College of Dentistry provides comprehensive dental care services to the public at large (University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, 2008). The college will assign dental health professionals –students, residents, and faculty members to conduct dental health screenings and presentations on oral health and hygiene to all children between the ages of 6 and 10 years who study in schools enrolled in this program.
The goals of the ‘Dental Health Promotion Program for Rural School Children’ will be achieved by a two-pronged approach:
1. School-based dental health screenings: The Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools (OROS) will help in implementing the ‘Dental Health Promotion Program for Rural School Children’ at three randomly selected rural schools in Oklahoma City during the first year (Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools, 2007). A team of students, residents and faculty members from the University Of Oklahoma College Of Dentistry will conduct annual dental health screenings at these schools in Oklahoma City during the first year. Children between the ages of 6 and 10 years will be screened and given dmft and DMFT scores for decayed, missing, and filled teeth for their primary and permanent teeth respectively.
Baseline data will be collected before the implementation of the dental health program. This data will later be compared to the data collected every year thereafter in order to identify any changes in the rate of dental caries among the target population of 6-10-year-old children. The implementation of the ‘Dental Health Promotion Program for Rural School Children’ is expected to decrease the dmft and DMFT scores of participating school children by 25% by the end of three years of implementation of this program.
2. School-based dental health education: The team of students, residents, and faculty members from the University Of Oklahoma College Of Dentistry will also conduct an hour-long presentation on the importance of oral health and hygiene for children between the ages of 6 and 10 years. These educational presentations will include talks, activities, and question-answer sessions that would address a variety of issues concerning oral health and will be conducted every six months at these rural schools. Read More