Dental sealants help protect students' teeth
By Dr. Linda Niessen
Monday, September 23, 2002
SCRIPT # 479 SHOOT: 9/4/02
AIRDATE: Monday, Sept. 23, 2002
DHC MASTER #16 Timecode: 43:28
Only three percent of low income children in the U.S. have dental sealants, a plastic coating applied to protect the chewing surface of teeth. School based sealant programs are trying to raise that percent dramatically.
For three years, dental students and volunteer dentists have worked with the Dallas Independent School District to seal thousands of molars of second grade children, funded by a grant from the philanthropic group, Crystal Charity Ball. According to Dr. Stephen Crane of the Dallas County Sealant Initiative, “This could be the only chance they get to see a dentist. And we’re doing all we can out in this program to help them.”
Sealants can reduce cavities by up to 60 percent. That’s the lesson we’re learning in school based sealant programs across the nation. Children without private dental care have an even greater need for sealants.
Jean Sims works with Communities in Schools, an organization that provides additional services for children in Dallas schools. “We have access to the children. We have access to the parents. The parents come up here. We establish a relationship with them. They trust us. So they are more likely to get involved with the program when they have that kind of trust.
“Many of the parents don’t have transportation so by the dentist coming here, they don’t have to do that. So, yes it’s very helpful.”
We should think of dental decay as a neglected epidemic. Just like vaccinations, sealants significantly lower the risk of decay, in all children, but especially children at high risk. For Baylor College of Dentistry, Texas A & M System, I’m Dr. Linda Niessen.
Dr. Linda Niessen, clinical professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences and the Office of Communications and Development at Baylor College of Dentistry, hosts Dental Health Check, the only weekly dental feature shot on location in the nation.
