(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Routine health and dental care are essential to children’s health, yet disparities put many children at risk for unmet health and dental needs. To help reduce barriers that keep children from receiving important care, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is taking critical services to where children are: schools. As part of this work, Nationwide Children’s has expanded its dentistry services to meet children’s oral health care needs and help reduce barriers to accessing care.
According to a recent Pew study, one in 4 children covered by Medicaid did not visit a dentist during a two-year period, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says school-aged children from low-income families are twice as likely to have cavities than those from higher income households. Missing preventive dental services can lead to tooth decay (cavities), the most common chronic condition among children, which can cause pain and infections that affect speaking, eating, playing and learning.
“We know that children can reach their full potential in the classroom when they are healthy, live in a safe and stable environment, and have access to the resources they need,” said Mary Kay Irwin, EdD, senior director of school health services for Nationwide Children’s. “By partnering with schools, we are helping many children access important care they would otherwise not receive. If we want to improve health outcomes for all children, we have to work together and meet families where they are.”
Nationwide Children’s school-based health initiative includes 17 primary care clinics, two mobile health clinics, roving vaccine clinics and a school-based wheelchair clinic. School-based asthma therapy also takes place in more than 250 schools across 30 districts, and other services include wellness education, school nursing, school-based diabetes care and significant behavioral health programming. These services support Nationwide Children’s ongoing efforts to extend care beyond the hospital walls and out into the communities, where children live, learn and play.
Since July 2021, the school-based dental clinics have treated more than 1,000 children and have completed more than 7,000 procedures. The dental clinic has visited eight different schools, and twenty-one Early Head Start centers with plans to expand. Nearly 85% of the patients served at the school-based dental clinics over the last two years had not had a dental appointment in the last three years.
“There are a lot of children that don’t go to the dentist regularly,” said Kim Hammersmith, DDS, a pediatric dentist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and program director for the Advanced Education in Pediatric Dentistry Program. “That could be a factor of their insurance, that could be a factor of their parents not being able to get the time off work or not having transportation to get to those dental appointments. We’re trying to bridge that gap and help set up students for success by reducing sick days and preventing chronic tooth pain and disease.”
School-based dental services include preventive care appointments, including cleanings, exams, x-rays, sealants, or fluroride treatments and are able to perform most restorative procedures that are done in traditional dental offices, including fillings, extractions, pulpotomies and stainless steel crowns.
“The future's leading us into school-based health, meeting kids where they are, eliminating the barriers that currently exist in receiving adequate healthcare, including dental care,” said Dr. Hammersmith.
Learn more at Nationwide Children’s school-based services multimedia newsroom.