Dr.

Deesha

SCHOOL DENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

1. Enlist the aspects of School Health Programs.

a. Health appraisal
b. Health counseling
c. Emergency Care and First Aid
d. School Health Education
e. Maintenance of School Health Records
f. Curative Services

2. Enlist the Elements/Components of School Oral Health Program

a. Improving school Community Relations
b. Conducting Dental Inspections
c. Conducting Dental Health Education
d. Performing Specific Programs
i. Tooth Brushing Program
ii. Classroom Based Fluoride Programs
Fluoride Mouth Rinse Program
Fluoride Tablet Program
iii. School Water Fluoridation
iv. Nutrition as a part of School Preventive Dentistry Programs
v. Sealant Placement
vi. Science Fairs
e. Referral for Dental Care
f. Follow Up

3. What is Blanket Referral?

 In this program, all children are given referral cards to take home and subsequently to the
dentist, who sign the cards upon completion of examination, treatment, or both. The
signed cards are then returned to the school nurse, or classroom teacher, who plays an
important role in following up the referrals with the child and parents.

4. List the School Oral Health Programs

a. Learning about your Oral Health – A Prevention Oriented School Program
b. Tattle Tooth Program- Texas Statewide Preventive Dentistry Program
c. Askov Dental Demonstration
d. North Carolina Statewide Preventive Dental Health Program
e. Head Start – Pre School Dental Health Program
f. School Health Additional Referral Program (SHARP)
g. Teenage Health Education Teaching Assistants Program (THETA)
h. Colgate Bright Smiles , Bright Futures
i. World Health Organization’s global School Health Initiative
5. Explain the Tattle Tooth Program
 The Tattle tooth Program was developed in 1974-1976.
 In 1989, the Bureau of dental health developed a new program to replace the existing
Program called Tattle Tooth II.
Teacher Training 3 videotapes containing:
Package 1. Content familiarize teachers with lesson format & content
2. Brushing and Flossing
3. Additional background information
Materials to Aid 1. Brochure :Overview of the program
Program 2. School nurse's brochure
Implementation 3. A letter to school principals and nurses
4. A 2 hour training session using materials in the new curriculum
was televised to schools through video network.
Goals Reduce dental disease and develop positive dental habits to last a lifetime
Major Thrust Convince students that preventing dental disease is important and that
they can do it
Program implementation:
 The Texas Department of Health employs 16 hygienists in the eight public health
regions to implement the Tattle tooth Program who instruct teachers using videotapes
& give them a copy of the curriculum.
 Teachers are encouraged to invite a dentist to demonstrate brushing and flossing in the
classroom. A field trip to a dental office is strongly recommended for kindergarten
children.
 Bulletin board suggestions, a book list, films and videotapes are available on a free
loan for appropriate grade levels
 Topics covered: Correct brushing and flossing techniques, awareness of the importance
of safety and factual information relating to dental disease, its causes and preventive
techniques.
Program evaluation:
Grade 3,5,7,9,11 'Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) by the Texas Education
agency
Teacher evaluation Annually by principals and supervisors using a 65-item checklist.
Results
Field Test in 1  Knowledge increased at all grade levels.
975 and 1976  Plaque levels decreased by approximately 15%
studied 15,000  Over 80% of the teachers judged the program to be helpful and
children effective, but evaluation questions suggested that they felt a need for
additional technical help in brushing and flossing.
1989, a statewide  Teacher-student interaction was present
summative  Student responses to the curriculum were positive
evaluation  94% of the teachers felt that teaching oral health can have a positive
effect on dental health habits.

6. Describe SHARP Program.

  The Program Aims at providing Motivation through home visits
 This program was instituted in Philadelphia with the purpose of motivating parents
into initiating action for correction of defects in their children through effective
utilization of community resources.
 The project was carried out by district nurses with the cooperation of school
personnel. The nurses made daytime visits to families in which the mothers were at
home.
 Working parents were contacted by phone.

7. Describe THETA Program

 THETA (Teenage Health Education Teaching Assistants Program) Developed by
the National Foundation for the prevention of oral disease for the US Department
of Health and Welfare, Division of Dental Health.
 Philosophy: Dental personnel train high school children to teach preventive
dentistry to elementary school children.
Goals:
 To give knowledge & skills to young children.
 Allows high school children to develop understanding of young children
 Introduces them to career opportunities

8. Describe the Strategies used in WHO’s Global School Health Initiative

a. Research to improve School Health Programs
b. Building Capacity to advocate for improved Health Programs
c. Strengthening National Capacities
d. Creating Networks and Alliances for the Development of Health Promoting
Schools.

9. Describe WHO’s Health Promoting Schools

 "A health promoting school can be characterized as a school constantly strengthening
its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working."
 Fosters health and learning with all the measures at its disposal.
 Engages all Stakeholders in efforts to make the school a healthy place
 Strives to provide a healthy environment, school health education, and school
health services along with school/community projects and outreach, health
promotion programs for staff, nutrition and food safety programs, opportunities
for physical education and recreation, and programs for counseling, social support
and mental health promotion.
 Implements policies and practices that respect an individual's well - being and
dignity, provide multiple opportunities for success, and acknowledge good efforts
and intentions as well as personal achievements.
 Strives to improve the health of school personnel, families and community
members as well as pupils and works with community leaders to help them
 understand how the community contributes to, or undermines, health and
education.

10. What is Incremental Dental Care?

Incremental care may be defined as "periodic care so spaced that increments of dental disease
are treated at the earliest time consistent with proper diagnosis and operating efficiency, in
such a way that there is no accumulation of dental needs beyond the minimum."
Frequency of Care: Private Practice- 6 Months
Public Health Programs: 1 Year
Treatment programs can be "gotten off the ground" by taking the youngest available group
the first year and carrying it forward in subsequent years as far as funds permit, each year
adding a new class of children at the next earliest available age until an entire child
population is being served to as high an age as available resources permit.
Advantages Disadvantages
Lesions of dental caries are treated before Time consuming
pulpal involvement
Periodontal disease is intercepted at or More Attention to deciduous dentition
near the beginning
Preventive measures Increasing likelihood of interruption in children's
are maintained on a periodic basis dental health programs
Bills for care are equalized and regularly Financial resources may be exhausted even before the
spaced elementary school population has been cared for
Avoids the high expenditure Permanent teeth might receive no care at all.
of late dental care
Confines dental disease to small early
increments, thus reducing loss of teeth
Inculcates a habit of periodic return to the
dental office in subsequent years

11. What is Comprehensive Dental Care?

Comprehensive dental care is the meeting of accumulated dental needs at the time a
population group is taken into the program (initial care) and the detection and correction of
new increments of dental disease on a semiannual or other periodic basis (maintenance care).
Preventive measures aimed to minimize disease are a part of comprehensive dental care.
Services provided not only eliminate pain and infection but also to
 Restore serviceable teeth to good functional form,
 Replace missing teeth,
 Provide maintenance care for control of early Oral lesions
 Provide preventive measures, educational and otherwise, so that the population may
experience a lower prevalence of disease.
Dental care from WOMB to TOMB, this is comprehensive dental care in the true sense.