Boston, Mass., November 5, 2006
-- The Kentucky Dental Public Health Partnership today was awarded the APHA/Glaxo SmithKline Partnership for Healthy Children Award at the American Public Health Association (APHA)’s 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition.
The University of Kentucky College of Dentistry and the Kentucky Department for Public Health formed the partnership in 1996 to improve oral health access for financially disadvantaged children. By 2005, the collaborative approach had evolved into a statewide oral health initiative that has served more than 31,000 state residents.
The partnership has produced several community-based service and education programs, including the Mobile Dental Program that served approximately 11,500 children in fiscal year 2004–2005. The school-based dental sealant program called Seal Kentucky involves first-year dental students at the University of Kentucky and has increased the number of children with dental sealants from 8 percent in 1987 to 27 percent in 2001.
The partnership also produced KIDS Smile, a program that trains public health nurses, school nurses and nursing assistants to screen children through age 5, apply fluoride varnish, provide oral health education to caregivers and give referrals for follow-up treatment with a dental practitioner. More than 1,100 providers have received training through the program, which linked 30,000 children with dental appointments in 2004 to2005.
The partnership has documented oral health levels in the state and developed surveillance systems to monitor oral health, including the Kentucky Oral Health Survey. That survey is being used at state and local levels for oral health surveillance and policy development and to support disparities research.
Increased awareness among the public, non-dental health professionals and policy-makers of the importance of oral health has been another big part of the partnership, which participated in four state oral health conferences since 2000 and sponsored such initiatives as oral cancer screenings.
Kentucky Deputy Health Commissioner Steve Davis, MD, said in a nominating letter the group is “a symbiotic partnership that has created significant advancements in oral health programs in the Commonwealth with benefits to citizens across the state.”