"Lead the Way"
Over the past five years, the Grand Prairie Rotary Club is improving the dental health of many needy children within the Grand Prairie Independent School District with a preventive and educational program. Grand Prairie Rotarians are working to improve the dental health among the students through dental screenings, oral home care instructions, and the placement of pit and fissure sealants. Specific schools are being targeted based on the percentage of students on free or reduced lunches. During the 2003-2004 school year, 11 elementary and 2 middle schools are being assisted with this program. Over the past 3 years, school nurses have identified hundreds of elementary and middle school aged students in dire need of dental care. The majority of these children are in families who are not financially able to seek private care. The Grand Prairie Rotary Club sponsors the Dental Sealant Program by its purchase of a mobile dental unit and chair along with the necessary supplies and materials. This mobile dental unit allows the club’s dentist and dental hygienist to travel to the schools for the initial screenings and the subsequent placement of the sealants. Each Fall semester, a Rotarian dentist travels to the identified schools to screen all second and sixth graders. Each student is given an oral exam to check for decay, proper eruption of permanent teeth, any other dental abnormities and possible indication for dental sealants. If their first permanent molars are decay free, they are then deemed eligible for dental sealants. In the Spring semester, a dental sealant is placed on the surfaces of back permanent decay-free molars of those students identified in the Fall. A sealant is a thin plastic coating applied to the decay-free teeth to protect the deep pits and fissures from trapping bacteria and plaque, causing dental decay. Food and bacteria cannot penetrate this seal, providing 100% protection form decay on these surfaces. The application is simple, painless and can be done on site. Clinical studies show a sealant lasts on the average of 7 years. In current programs, decay rate has been decreased by 30% in just 2 years. The first year of the program, the Grand Prairie Rotary Club placed sealants on 955 children. The second year, over 1,000 children received dental sealants. This school year, the Rotary Club added to the program by screening of the school district’s sixth graders with the eruption of their 12 year old molars. Again, helping many children who would not otherwise be able to seek private care. An offshoot of the Dental Sealant Program is the Grand Prairie Rotary Club’s Annual Brush Off Campaign. This first year of the Brush Off Campaign, Rotarians donated 5,000 toothbrushes. Enough for all kindergarten through third grade students. Funding for the Dental Sealant Program and the Brush Off comes from the Annual Rotary Golf Tournament and corporate donations.
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