In this study, we assessed how topical fluoride treatments and
dental sealants (either primary or permanent molars) together impacted overall downstream dental care expenditures and outcomes in six states using multiyear longitudinal utilization for dental care derived from patient-level claims.
The most amazing thing to us was how we started the process just wanting the ability to apply
dental sealants without supervision or authorization.
Evaluation of school-based
dental sealant programs: an updated community guide systematic economic review.
A reporting problem in this area, in addition to the problems with federally qualified health centers and other sites described earlier, is that many children receive
dental sealants in broad dental health programs at schools or other community settings.
These, she suggests, could be "a more chronic low-level source of exposure" than
dental sealants. Barr adds that in her view, although point-source exposure from
dental sealants might approach levels that induce health effects in rodents, "[it] is not the most significant source of exposure in humans." Moreover, she holds that exposure to BPA from
dental sealants, already variable and short-lived in the body, could be easily reduced further by having the patient spit frequently in the hours after application.
Overall, 4.3% of the 12-year olds living in Puerto Rico during 1997 had at least one
dental sealant on their first permanent molars (Tables 1-3).
In 1991, 29 states had community
dental sealant programs, and by 1994 all 50 state Medicaid programs reported providing reimbursement for
dental sealants.[8]
The study period was separated into 1-month intervals, and for each interval, we computed the number of first molar
dental sealant visits overall and by provider type, as well as the number of person-years of enrollment overall and by age, sex, and racial/ethnic group.
The winners are Athens City County Health Department's School Based
Dental Sealant Program, Athens, OH; Dakota Smiles Mobile Dental Program, Pierre, SD; City of Portland's Children's Oral Health Program, Portland, ME; Santa Barbara/Ventura County Dental Care Foundation, Ventura, CA; and University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, Daniel Squire Diagnostic and Treatment Center, Buffalo, NY.
Grant recipients include: Bi-State Primary Care Association, Concord; Boys and Girls Club of Manchester; Claremont Dental Initiative; Concord
Dental Sealant Coalition; Concord Hospital Family Health Center Dental Center; Easter Seals New Hampshire, Manchester; Greater Nashua Dental Connection; Laconia WIG Oral Health Program; Lamprey Health Care, Newmarket; New Hampshire Oral Health Coalition; Monadnock Healthy Teeth to Toes, Peterborough; New Hampshire Dental Hygienists' Association; North Country Health Consortium, Whitefield; Seacoast Periodontal Study Club; SEE Science Center, Manchester; Special Olympics NH; Webster Place Recovery Center, Franklin; and The Circle Program, Plymouth.
The 10th annual Children's Free
Dental Sealant Clinic will be held Saturday at the Lane Community College Dental Clinic, Building 4.
Dental sealants are such a powerful weapon against childhood tooth decay that the national Healthy People 2010 goal is to have 50 percent of all schoolchildren receive at least one
dental sealant.
