Health News
- Uk Students In National Program To Educate Kids About Oral Health
A University of Kentucky undergraduate dental group was recently spotlighted by the National Children's Oral Health Foundation for their passion to share oral-health education with elementary and middle schools in Kentucky, according to a UK...
- State Gives 5 Health Departments Money For Mobile Dental-hygiene Teams That Will Examine Children At Schools; 5 More Next Year
Using new money in the state budget, the state Department for Public Health has given five local health departments grants to launch mobile dental hygiene programs. The one-year awards of $160,000 will pay for a full-time dental hygienist and assistant;...
- Smile Kentucky! Celebrates 10 Years And More Than 100,000 Children Helped
Smile Kentucky! celebrates its 10-year anniversary tomorrow, representing $1 million in free dentistry and benefiting more than 100,000 students. "It's a wonderful program," said Arleta Watkins of Bullitt County Schools. "I've had children...
- Oral Health Grant For 25,000 Appalachian Children Should Be Beginning Of Statewide Effort, Al Smith Says
In an op-ed piece, veteran Kentucky journalist Al Smith praised the recent announcement that 25,000 Eastern Kentucky children in 16 counties will receive preventive dental care this school year. The project, funded by a $1 million grant from the Appalachian...
- Tooth Varnish Saving Smiles In Clark County
To protect about 3,000 Clark County children from tooth decay, local dentists and volunteers headed to schools to apply a fluoride varnish earlier this month. "We knew this material worked, although it was a new material, and there wasn't a lot of...
Health News
Smiling Schools tooth-varnish program expands to 10 more counties; now in 40
Kentucky's Smiling Schools program is expanding to 10 more counties and will now provide its free preventive tooth varnishing treatments to children in 40 elementary schools, most in Appalachia, according to a state press release.
Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear, along with others, made the announcement at the Clark County Health Department on Sept. 22.
"Good dental health is a key component of good overall health,? the governor said, ?Kentucky?s children deserve the best start in life, and the latest round of our Smiling Schools program will help even more children live up to their full potential in the classroom and beyond.?
Kentucky ranks 41st in annual dental visits; 45th in the percentage of children with untreated dental decay; and 47th in the percentage of adults 65 and older missing six or more teeth, according to the release.
Funding for the Smiling Schools program, which will now reach almost 18,000 students with the expansion, is provided by an $800,000 stream of funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Kentucky Oral Health Program.
The protective varnish treatments provided by the program are administered at the participating elementary schools by local health department nurses. Oral health educational materials are also provided to the parents of the children receiving treatment.
The 10 new counties joining the program are Clark, Edmonson, Green, Greenup, Johnson, Letcher, Lewis, Nicholas, Pike and Pulaski.
The counties already participating in the program are: Bath, Bell, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Hart, Jackson, Knox, Lawrence, Leslie, Lincoln, McCreary, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalfe, Montgomery, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Robertson, Rockcastle, Rowan, Whitley and Wolfe.
Health Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes said that the Smiling Schools program had reduced tooth decay and fillings by 20 percent, according to a study by the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry.
Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear, along with others, made the announcement at the Clark County Health Department on Sept. 22.
"Good dental health is a key component of good overall health,? the governor said, ?Kentucky?s children deserve the best start in life, and the latest round of our Smiling Schools program will help even more children live up to their full potential in the classroom and beyond.?
Kentucky ranks 41st in annual dental visits; 45th in the percentage of children with untreated dental decay; and 47th in the percentage of adults 65 and older missing six or more teeth, according to the release.
The protective varnish treatments provided by the program are administered at the participating elementary schools by local health department nurses. Oral health educational materials are also provided to the parents of the children receiving treatment.
The 10 new counties joining the program are Clark, Edmonson, Green, Greenup, Johnson, Letcher, Lewis, Nicholas, Pike and Pulaski.
The counties already participating in the program are: Bath, Bell, Breathitt, Carter, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Hart, Jackson, Knox, Lawrence, Leslie, Lincoln, McCreary, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalfe, Montgomery, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Robertson, Rockcastle, Rowan, Whitley and Wolfe.
Health Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes said that the Smiling Schools program had reduced tooth decay and fillings by 20 percent, according to a study by the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry.
- Uk Students In National Program To Educate Kids About Oral Health
A University of Kentucky undergraduate dental group was recently spotlighted by the National Children's Oral Health Foundation for their passion to share oral-health education with elementary and middle schools in Kentucky, according to a UK...
- State Gives 5 Health Departments Money For Mobile Dental-hygiene Teams That Will Examine Children At Schools; 5 More Next Year
Using new money in the state budget, the state Department for Public Health has given five local health departments grants to launch mobile dental hygiene programs. The one-year awards of $160,000 will pay for a full-time dental hygienist and assistant;...
- Smile Kentucky! Celebrates 10 Years And More Than 100,000 Children Helped
Smile Kentucky! celebrates its 10-year anniversary tomorrow, representing $1 million in free dentistry and benefiting more than 100,000 students. "It's a wonderful program," said Arleta Watkins of Bullitt County Schools. "I've had children...
- Oral Health Grant For 25,000 Appalachian Children Should Be Beginning Of Statewide Effort, Al Smith Says
In an op-ed piece, veteran Kentucky journalist Al Smith praised the recent announcement that 25,000 Eastern Kentucky children in 16 counties will receive preventive dental care this school year. The project, funded by a $1 million grant from the Appalachian...
- Tooth Varnish Saving Smiles In Clark County
To protect about 3,000 Clark County children from tooth decay, local dentists and volunteers headed to schools to apply a fluoride varnish earlier this month. "We knew this material worked, although it was a new material, and there wasn't a lot of...