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DENTAL SEALANT PROGRAM CONTINUES TO GROW

By Pete Rosenbery

When the School of Allied Health’s Dental Sealant Grant Program began in 2000, Faith Y. Miller and Charla J. Lautar could not envision the impact on children in the region.

The program provides free preventive dental services to children from three to 17 years old. What started 16 years ago and attracted 19 children has grown into on-site visits to grade schools in Carbondale, Carterville, De Soto, Murphysboro, and Elkville/Vergennes. The summer clinic includes locations in Carbondale, Cobden, Marion, Murphysboro, Pinckneyville and the Jackson County Health Department near Murphysboro.

Approximately 14,330 children have received treatment between the schools and summer sites since the program’s inception. In summer 2015, 250 children received treatment; for the 2014-2015 school year, another 1,470 children received exams in local school settings.

Services include exams, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants performed by senior dental hygiene students. The exam also fulfills state requirements for children who will be entering kindergarten, second and sixth grade each fall.

Miller, an associate professor and program director, and Lautar, a professor in the dental hygiene program, recall the first year when fewer than 20 children showed up at one location.

“We had to give money back; now we have to ask for more funding,” Miller said.

The program re-submits an application for the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Division of Oral Health grant each year. This year’s grant for $20,600 runs through June 30, and is the same amount as the previous year.

“We have to re-submit the grant application so there is no guarantee we will get it,” Miller said. “Each time we receive the grant we have to prove ourselves.”

Lautar and Miller believe the growth started when a guideline change allowed for general supervision rather than direct supervision of dentists, meaning that dentists did not have to be present for every sealant. The program was incorporated into advanced clinical and multicultural service-oriented dental hygiene courses -- where students serve groups different than themselves based on age, gender, ethnicity, nationality race or class. And having the exam fulfill state education requirements for children who are entering kindergarten, second, and sixth grade also helps, Lautar said.

Natalie Richardson, the dental sealant program manager and site coordinator, said that working with children is a valuable experience for the 30 to 35 dental hygiene seniors; for example, children often squirm in chairs and have smaller mouths in which to work. In an average school year, dental hygiene students will work with about 1,500 children in the 12 schools receiving services.

“It’s definitely a great learning experience for students,” Richardson said. “They don’t have the opportunity to work with a whole lot of children in the clinic; they mostly see adult patients. They get used to working with children because it’s a whole different ballgame when it comes to working with a child.”

Richardson said students also become aware of the great need for dental services in some instances where children might not regularly visit a dentist.

Being able to use mobile dental equipment in a public health environment, apart from a clinical practice setting, is also a valuable experience and helps build students’ self-confidence, Miller said.