| May 11, 2007
Program Expected To Reduce Tooth Decay By Up To 60
Percent In 22,000 Michigan Children
LANSING -- Delta Dental of Michigan (Delta Dental) has given the
Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) a grant of $250,000 to
launch Varnish! Michigan, a program that will provide applications of
fluoride varnish on the teeth of up to 22,000 children enrolled in Early
Head Start and Head Start programs around the state.
The goal of Varnish! Michigan is to provide early intervention to
prevent or reduce dental disease among low-income children aged birth to
five. Varnish! Michigan is expected to reduce decay between 48 and 60
percent in this group of children.
Thomas J. Fleszar, president and chief executive officer of Delta
Dental, said regular applications of fluoride varnish have proven to be
one of the most effective measures to prevent or reduce dental decay.
Fluoride varnish is safe, simple to apply, and an ideal treatment to
offer in community-based programs like Head Start, he said. Our mission
at Delta Dental is to improve oral health. I cannot think of a more
appropriate initiative to support than Varnish! Michigan, which will
help thousands of young children get off to a healthy start by
preventing tooth decay.
Many of these children in this group have little to no access to dental
care, and the unfortunate result is that by the time they reach third
grade, one in four Michigan children have untreated dental disease, said
Janet Olszewski, MDCH Director. We know that most dental disease can be
prevented, and we are grateful to Delta Dental for stepping forward with
this generous contribution to make sure at-risk children throughout the
state get the protection they need.
According to the National Institutes of Health, tooth decay is the
single most common chronic disease among children - five times more
common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. In
Michigan, 20 percent of children bear 80 percent of the disease burden;
these are the children with little to no access to dental care. Nearly
one in 10 third grade children in the state have immediate dental care
needs with signs or symptoms of pain, infection, or swelling.
MDCH will administer the program through the use of competitive grants,
with priority given to Early Head Start programs because intervention at
the youngest ages is considered most beneficial.
Grantees will be selected from non-profit agencies, local public health
departments, and federally qualified health centers. Grants are expected
to be awarded this summer. In addition to the fluoride treatment, the
program will include caregiver oral health education and assistance to
families in helping them find a dental home.
Delta Dental of Michigan, with its affiliates in Ohio, Indiana, and
Tennessee, is one of the largest dental plan administrators in the
nation. In 2006, the enterprise paid out more than $1.7 billion for
dental care for more than 6.2 million enrollees. Offices are located in
Okemos, Farmington Hills, and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Columbus and
Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Nashville, Knoxville, and
Memphis, Tennessee. |
