School Sealant Programs

School Sealant Programs

The topic that I chose for my project is about school programs—specifically school sealant programs. I was interested in learning more about school sealant programs because of an experience that I was able to have in my last semester of dental hygiene school. During one of my public health classes, we completed a project where we talked to parents and kids enrolled in the SNAP program and we educated them on the basics of oral health and how fluoride can help protect their kids’ teeth.  After the brief presentation, we then applied fluoride varnish to their kids’ teeth free of charge. It was a really great opportunity to help and to educate the people within that community. It will also hopefully open up similar opportunities within that specific SNAP program in the future.

           These issues and questions will be addressed in the following paragraph: Discuss the relation of health care access to your topic.  Is it directly related? What are the main issues?  

Health care access is definitely related to my topic since there are many limitations and barriers to accessing school sealant programs. Barriers to accessing school sealant programs includes many different issues. These barriers could include limited school availability for rural areas, lack of approval by school boards to conduct the application of sealants, parent rejections and complaints, and lack of available dental staff who are willing and/or able to participate in school sealant programs around the nation. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “The 2 most frequently reported barriers to SSP expansion were levels of funding and policies requiring dentists to be present at assessment or sealant placement.” (Patel et al., 2022). Ultimately a lot of the problems surrounding the creation, implementation, and upkeep of school sealant programs come down to the availability of funding that is needed to support sealant programs and the accessibility of dental professionals to participate in sealant programs. There is undoubtedly a direct relationship between health care accessibility and the availability of school sealant programs.

These issues and questions will be addressed in the following paragraph: Is your topic focusing on access to care and barriers? What aspect?  What possible solutions have been proposed? I would say that my topic is relevant to access to care and barriers, but it is limited to a smaller population that is being reached. My topic is specific to schools and is further limited to those who choose to participate in school sealant programs. Even though school sealant programs may be a smaller demographic, it definitely addresses the needs of the public and can help reduce the limited access to care in its own way. School sealant programs tend to be targeted and implemented in schools that are located in lower socioeconomic areas. For many of the kids who live in those poorer communities, the school sealant programs may be their only exposure to the dentist and/or dental professionals. Getting involved in school sealant programs is a great way to increase the access to care for children living in poorer communities.  According to the CDC, “School sealant programs are especially important for reaching children who are at greater risk for developing cavities and less likely to receive private dental care. Programs generally target schools with a higher percentage of children eligible for federal free or reduced-cost meal programs.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Many solutions have been proposed over the years. One of the main barriers, as was mentioned previously, is the limited amount of funding that is available for school sealant programs. While several efforts have been made to increase federal funding, there are now local funding options such as funding from nonprofit agencies, city councils, and local businesses. Raising awareness of the need for school sealant programs is going to be one of the starting places for fixing the existing problem (Seal America, 2023).

Capstone Project

I think that there are several ways that this topic could be approached as a capstone project, but raising awareness is a major need for this topic. With that being said, a capstone project could include a presentation to dental professionals about the need for dental professionals to get involved, a presentation to schools addressing the importance of setting up a sealant program within their school, or it could even be a presentation to different dental schools about how students can volunteer to help with school sealant programs. The possibilities for a capstone project about school sealant programs are endless--I think it would be a great capstone project topic! It all starts with raising awareness.

References:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, December 10). School sealant programs. https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/dental_sealant_program/school-sealant-programs.htm

Patel, Griffin, Linabarger, & Lesaja. (2022). Impact of school sealant programs on oral health among youth and identification of potential barriers to implementation. Journal of the American Dental Association . https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35953306/#:~:text=The%202%20most%20frequently%20reported,caries%20risk%20and%20reduced%20caries.

Seal America. (2023). Funding. Funding | Seal America. https://www.mchoralhealth.org/seal/step-5-1.php#:~:text=Funding%20from%20Nonprofit%20Agencies,school%2Dbased%20dental%20sealant%20program.