A program providing free in-school dental screenings and dental sealants to children at high-need Title I public elementary schools will continue thanks to a grant from the Hawaii Dental Service Foundation.
The $133,447 grant will support the Hawai‘i Keiki- HDS Dental Sealant Program, which screened 653 children at 28 schools in 2021. Two-thirds of them received dental sealants at no cost. The screenings also identified 31 children who required urgent dental care.
The program is part of Hawai‘i Keiki: Healthy &Ready to Learn, a partnership between the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing and the state Department of Education. The partnership’s mission is to keep children healthy and ready to learn by providing access to school nursing services in Hawaii public schools.
“The schools and parents just love this program because we are providing safe and effective sealants to prevent future cavities,” Deborah Mattheus, director of the Hawai‘i Keiki-HDS Dental Sealant Program, said in a news release. “In addition to sealing teeth, we are screening students for urgent dental conditions and making referrals to get them immediate care. It is hard to learn if you have sore teeth. We are also teaching the kids about the importance of brushing and flossing daily.”
The Hawai‘i Keiki-HDS Dental Sealant Program, launched in 2019, provides oral health assessments and dental sealants at no cost and brings licensed dentists and dental hygienists to the school to minimize students’ time away from class. Families of participating students receive assessment reports, referrals and oral care kits, and students who need urgent dental care receive referrals to community dental service providers.
Dental sealants are thin coatings that help to prevent cavities on permanent molars. The application of sealants is quick, noninvasive and painless, according to a UH news release, and sealants are typically applied by a dentist to keiki around second or third grade.
Hawaii children have among the highest rates of dental decay in the nation, with 71% of the state’s third graders experiencing tooth decay, according to a 2015 state Department of Health report. The report found that 7% needed urgent dental care, compared with the national rate of 1%.
