Wednesday, May 28, 2003

State oral health program opens wide to help more children

This year for the first time, low-income children throughout Georgia can get preventive dental screening and care in their schools. This will fill a big cavity in children's health, especially in rural areas, according to Joseph Alderman, D.D.S., director of the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health's oral health program.

A budget increase of $1 million in Fiscal Year 2001 has enabled the program to employ a dental hygienist supervised by a dentist in each of the state's 19 public health districts and to buy more mobile units. Three years ago, just eight districts were fully staffed and four others had partial staffing, serving a total of 64 counties.

"We make a special effort to reach children in preschools and elementary schools who qualify for the school lunch program or don't have dental insurance or access to a dentist," said Alderman. "We want to teach them that you shouldn't wait until you have a toothache before going to the dentist. Some of the children we see in rural areas had never been to a dentist before we started to visit their school."

DHR's Georgia Oral Health Prevention Program uses portable dental equipment to bring children services such as dental sealants and fluoride rinses to prevent cavities; cleaning and examinations; and referrals to public and private dentists for treatment, in addition to prevention education. Eleven mobile dental trailers and vans are in the field, up from two vans in 2000. Public Health also treats children in public health clinics in 36 counties, some paid for in part by county and municipal funds.

"Children with dental disease and toothache miss a lot of school," Alderman said. "Teachers have told us that, in Georgia, dental and vision problems are the most frequent reasons given for absences. This has a big impact on the future of low-income children, who are 80 percent more likely to have dental disease. Recent research also shows links between poor oral health and other serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. Almost a third of tooth decay among poor children goes untreated in this country. We hope to change that in Georgia with our expanded program."

The program served 180,863 children during FY 2002, compared to 82,253 in 2000, just after the program suffered staff reductions and was being considered for termination. The legislature's decision to fund the service statewide turned it around, but even an expanded state staff can meet only part of the need for dental care for low-income children.

"One key to making our program effective is cooperation among public health departments, community health centers, private dentists, and schools," said Alderman. "It's a paradox that in Georgia we actually have many resources for improving health care in rural areas, but in the past they have not been well coordinated and dental health often was not included in efforts to correct this situation. We have been working on ways to form better partnerships among everyone involved, including an oral health care 'summit' last September."

The Georgia Dental Association called Georgia's program "one of the oldest and most dynamic dental public health programs in the nation. The official state dental public health program was established in 1928, and will enjoy its 75th anniversary in 2003." (GDA Action, February 2002)

For additional information, visit www.health.state.ga.us/programs/oral.