Mobile Dental Outreach Program
Congratulations to Dr. Nikki Stone, DMD, Mobile Dental Outreach Director for UK North Fork Valley! Dr. Stone's mobile outreach program was recently recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as an innovative model for providing preventive oral health services at Head Start programs and elementary schools in Eastern KY.
Program Description
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PROGRAM NAME |
UK North Fork Valley Community Dental Outreach Program (Hazard, KY) |
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CONTACT INFORMATION |
Nikki Stone, DMD Mobile Dental Outreach Director (606) 439-1559 |
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DESCRIPTION |
The University of Kentucky North Fork Valley Community Health Center's mobile dental outreach program celebrated ten years of serving the children of Eastern Kentucky in 2015. The program began in 2005 and provides preventive dental care to Head Start children in Perry, Knott, Letcher, and Leslie counties and to all public elementary schools in Perry and Knott counties. A dentist, two dental hygienists, and a dental assistant provide services such as examinations, cleanings, fluoride treatments, sealants, and both classroom-based and individualized educational sessions to students, parents, Head Start and school teachers, and at various community events. Services are offered to Head Start children using a lap-to-lap model of care twice per school year, and once per year to elementary students on a mobile dental unit, the Eastern Kentucky Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, a gift from Ronald McDonald House Charities Global. Annually, about 2,400 children receive services. Every child served receives a caries risk assessment and a dental report card is sent home to parents; those with “urgent” dental needs such as seven or more caries, active oral infections, or pain, are referred immediately for treatment. All children with tooth decay are case managed to the fixed dental clinic in the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that houses the program’s administrative offices, to partnered pediatric dentists in the region, or to area dental offices. Referred children receive navigation services and treatment completion is tracked. In the first ten years, over 9,000 individual children were seen in the four county service area. During that span of time, tooth decay rates have decreased nearly 20 percentage points, urgent dental needs have been cut in half, and treatment completion rates for Head Start children with urgent dental needs have increased dramatically from 8% to over 60%. |
To see the full report click here