Promoting Dental Health Care

Abstract

RODEO TRAINS, films, and plastic-tooth jewelry generated active participation in a dental health campaign fo,r primary school children in Stevens County, Wash., during 1959. The drive, conducted by the Stevens County Health Department, aimed at promoting remedial action for children in need of dental attention. The campaign originated in a request from the county department to the Washington State Health Department for help in planning a program fo,r children who had not been covered in a previous drive. Rapid dental inspections were being made periodically throughout the schools in the State by members o,f the local dental societies, each time renewing the intereist of parents, teachers, and children in dental health. Here was the opportunity to channel that renewed interest into remedial action. The State health department came through with help in the way of advice on program design, metho,ds of carrying it out, and presentation of reisults within a statistical matrix. Plans drawn up under the direction of Dr. Merle B. Snyder, Stevens County health officer, called for a program spanning the school year. The focus was on the pupils' 6-year permanent molars, because these four teeth are important in the formation and development of the dental arch and have high decay risk. They are the first permanent teeth, arriving early in the primary school experience of the child. Followup by the county public health nurses, May Alm and Belle Howard, was scheduled during the program year with the cooperation of the individual schools. Early investigation showed conditions that augured success. The 6-year molars among children in the county frequently required dental attention, and, in many instances, neglect came only from ignorance of the need for repair or from apathy thought to be correctible. The initial steps were directed toward alerting adults, especially teachers, and children to the need for dental care. The techniques included publicizing the program in the local newspapers, describing it to teachers, and supplying program material to the schools, where the message was then carried to the children. Next, Dr. J. H. Kennedy, a local practicing dentist, conducted a rapid dental examination in the nine schools, with emphasis on repair needs of the 6-year molars. Other defects were noted too, and any fissure or pit requiring treatment was classified as a cavity. As the drive gained momentum, the primary effort to stimulate motivation was applied to the children themselves. They participated actively by joining a rodeo train or a variation of the idea. The train is a cardboard engine with cars which the child boards with a ticket showing that he has molars intact or cared for by the dentist. The teacher was careful to allow those children who had lost their molars or who could not get repairs to get on eventually. Children riding the train were handed plastic 6-year molars to wear. Toothbrushes were also distributed. Other stimulating features were the filmstrip about Elmer-the little boy who learned to like his dentist-and educational materials, films, and slides from the local and Dr. Skinner is chief of the division of local health services in the Washington State Department of Health at Seattle, in which Mr. Sabotta is a statistical analyst in the staff services analysis unit.