Polishing up pearly whites
Clinics provide free dental checkups to students
A calm group of 40 first- and second-grade students from Twin Oaks Elementary School in Baton Rouge missed a couple hours of school Friday morning for the sake of their pearly whites.
“They cleaned them, and they painted them,” said Kayla Pointer, referring to sealant that was just applied.
“They feel kind of soft,” the 7-year-old added, showing her whiter teeth.
One of her classmates, however, was suffering from an undiagnosed abscess. Earlier in the day, the dental staff at Dr. Johnnie Hunt’s dental practice on Bluebonnet Boulevard looked at the tiny teeth of another young child from Polk Elementary and found not one, but two abscesses.
“If you don’t catch it, it can go up to the sinuses to the brain and can cause encephalitis,” said Susan Fagan with Health Centers In Schools. “You can die from that.”
Some children have malformations, requiring expensive follow-up dental or surgical work, said Fagan, who coordinates this program.
The almost 100 children who visited Dr. Hunt’s office Friday are among about 1,000 first- and second-grade students in East Baton Rouge Parish schools getting a free trip to the dentist this month.
Friday kicked it all off and Hunt wasn’t alone. Associates in Pediatric Dentistry, Nelson Daly, and Fallin and Fallin Family Dentistry also opened up their practices to these children.
Five more clinics are doing the same on successive Fridays for the rest of February.
“We believe very much in giving back to the community, the ones that are most in need,” Hunt said.
Hunt said she got involved in the annual dental checkup, known as Give Kids A Smile Day, five years ago. She is part of the Greater Baton Rouge Dental Association and chairs this year’s project.
The Louisiana Dental Association, the Greater Baton Rouge Dental Association, Health Centers in Schools, the Children’s Coalition of Greater Baton Rouge and the parish school system are partners in the effort. Baton Rouge is one of many communities across the state and nation participating.
The children, most of them from low-income families without access to proper dental care, receive dental screenings as well as preventive care and educational materials to bring home.
Fagan said this year the program in Baton Rouge expanded to include some children who had been to the dentist recently.
Indeed, several of the children seemed not fazed at
all.
Hunt said she’s been surprised how, despite any misgivings they have personally, children tend to behave well when they come to her office in groups.
“It’s a lot of peer pressure. They see their friends doing it, so it’s no big deal,” Hunt said.
Fagan said not every school is willing to let children take a field trip to the dentist’s office, but many educators realize that it has benefits. Children miss less school and pay better attention in class when their teeth are taken care of, she said.
“If you’ve ever had a toothache, it takes over your life,” she explained.