USA - SEAL Indiana Reports More Than Half of Indianapolis Area School Kids Treated by Program Have Moderate or Severe Dental Decay

SEAL Indiana Reports More Than Half of Indianapolis Area School Kids Treated by Program Have Moderate or Severe Dental Decay
Wednesday October 15, 4:37 pm ET
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- More than half of the children in Indianapolis area schools seen between January and September 2008 by an Indiana University School of Dentistry mobile project had moderate or severe dental decay.
SEAL Indiana, a mobile dental sealant program operated by the university and funded in part by a grant from the Delta Dental Foundation, offers preventive services such as examinations, dental sealants and fluoride varnish treatments.
The program travels to schools within a 120-mile radius of Indianapolis to treat children from low-income families who are not receiving or do not have access to routine dental care. From January through September 2008, the program treated more than 1,100 students.
"The program is going well and support from the state and organizations like the Delta Dental Foundation are extremely helpful," said Karen Yoder, MSD, Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Community Dentistry at Indiana University. "Even with our sliding payment scale, there are still many children we couldn't help if it weren't for additional funding support."

Parents of all the children seen through SEAL Indiana receive a written report about their child's oral health. In addition, a faculty dentist from Indiana University calls parents of children with severe dental decay to talk about the importance of follow-up care and information on how to apply for the state's Hoosier Healthwise program.

INDIANAPOLIS is fluoridated:NYSCOF