USA - Mobile dental service visits St. Charles schools

.......... Mobile dental service visits St. Charles schools
Jessica Bock
ST. CHARLES, Apr 29, 2009 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Reclining in the gray plastic dental chair temporarily set up in her school gym, 10-year-old Kyren Amo opened her mouth and spilled the beans to Dr. Hillard Ullman.
No, she hadn't brushed her teeth in a few days, Kyren said. You see, her hamsters have her toothbrush. The soft bristles are a good way to brush their coats, she told Ullman.
After X-rays, Kyren headed out with freshly cleaned teeth and a shiny new silver toothbrush -- not to be given away to any more hamsters, Ullman told her.
Kyren was one of 125 students at Monroe Elementary who recently signed up to have their teeth checked, cleaned and X-rayed at school this month by dentists, hygienists and technicians. Like other mobile dental services, Phoenix-based ReachOut Healthcare America provides dentists for students who might otherwise not get proper care for their teeth. Any student can participate, although typically the patients are uninsured or on Medicaid.
ReachOut has dentists in eight states, including school districts in St. Louis, Warren, Ste. Genevieve and Franklin counties. This is the first year the company has come to schools in St. Charles County.
Nicole Thomes, the nurse at Coverdell Elementary in St. Charles, arranged for ReachOut to go to St. Charles schools after seeing as many as seven students a week complaining of toothaches. Some had severe dental decay. And with more parents losing their jobs and insurance during these poor economic times, she said the need will probably increase. Dental care often gets put off during tough times.
"Some had teeth that were literally rotting and mushy," Thomes said. "I saw large cavities you could stick a cotton tip in." ..............

St. Charles, Missouri, is fluoridated:NYSCOF