West
Central Smiles is a mobile dental clinic that will come to your school to
provide preventive dental services, such as, a cleaning, an exam and x-rays. This program is open to all students. A letter is sent home through the school and
the parents and families are provided the information about the service that
will be provided and they can decide if they would like their child(ren) to
participate. Students who are on Kids
Connection/Medicaid are billed through our program. Students that are not eligible for Kids
Connection/Medicaid receive discounted fees based on our sliding fee scale which
is due the day of the visit, we do not bill private insurance. The benefits of the mobile unit are that
participating students will be out of the classroom for a limited amount of
time, approximately 30 minutes, and parents will not have to take time off work
for children to access this service. Children are retrieved from their class, often with other
classmates to receive their dental exam. The program specializes in giving each
child the best experience possible, the needs and abilities of each child are
carefully considered.
The mobile unit provides on-site dental services
for qualifying low-income, uninsured; Medicaid insured; and children at
schools, Head Start Centers, Health Department clinics for dentally undeserved
children.
Children
who lack dental care may have long-term oral health problems and miss school
days due to dental pain. Good oral health care is critical to a child’s
success. Schools benefit from improved student oral
health because it improves attendance and concentration in the
classroom due to fewer toothaches. The role of the school is to:
- provide a space for
the clinic, equipment, and staff
- distribute
information to parents and families
- allot time and
space for dental education one time per year
- recruit volunteers
to help with the clinic
We are
looking at offering a one time Fluoride Varnish free of charge to those
students who sign up for this service.
Fluoride varnish is applied to the teeth to help prevent tooth decay.
