Just Kids Dental expands service to more Northland school districts

Just Kids Dental announces expansion of school-based preventive dental care within the following four school districts beginning September 2011: Carlton, Wrenshall, Cromwell-Wright, and Moose Lake. This expansion means Just Kids Dental now serves a total of 25 schools in four counties: Carlton, St. Louis, and Lake in Minnesota, and Douglas in Wisconsin.

Just Kids Dental is a locally administered 501(c)(3) non-profit dental program founded by Registered Dental Hygienist, Stacey Anderson, of Two Harbors. Just Kids Dental provides at-risk children with dental cleanings, fluoride varnish applications, sealants, oral and nutritional education, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. Services are provided where children are easiest to access: schools.

Children enrolled in Wisconsin or Minnesota Medicaid are eligible, as well as those whose families are uninsured and income eligible within free/reduced lunch guidelines.

In addition to taking its mobile services directly to schools, Just Kids Dental conducts clinics at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland and Kundel Pediatric Associates of Duluth. Since its founding in 2006, Just Kids Dental has provided $2 million worth of dental care to low-income children with limited access to care.

Just Kids Dental Executive Director Stacey Anderson explains why assuring all children have access to dental care is important:

“Healthy children feel better in schools, which helps our efforts to educate. Tooth decay is the most common disease among children. It is also largely preventable. By providing dental care in schools and thereby removing economic and logistical barriers of cost, time, and transportation, underserved children can easily access preventive care in order to stay healthy and learn more.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

* Pediatric dental disease causes millions of children severe pain, affecting their ability to eat, sleep, and learn.

* More than 51 million school hours are lost each year due to dental-related problems, leading to increased educational disparities for underserved children.

* For every dollar spent on oral health preventive measures, America’s taxpayers are saved $50 in restorative and emergency dental procedures for underserved children.

* For every dollar invested in fluoride, $38 in future dental treatment costs is saved.

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