Marin lands more funds for dental health equity
State grant to support screenings, regular checkups
Marin County has received a $861,000 grant from the state to continue to address oral health disparities.
The grant is the second consecutive five-year award the county has received. The previous grant, which expired in June, was also for $861,000.
“Talking about dental disease, it is essential that we also discuss oral health equity, as dental disease disproportionately impacts lowerincome children and children of color,” said Danika Ng, program coordinator for the Marin Oral Health Program, told the Board of Supervisors at a meeting last week.
Data collected by the state's Department of Education shows that during the 2021-2022 school year, Marin schools with higher percentages of students receiving free or reduced priced meals correlated with higher rates of untreated dental decay.
The county's efforts to promote oral health equity have been made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused most dental offices to close for a time and made many patients more reluctant than usual to visit a dentist when offices reopened.
According to data collected by the state, annual dental visits by Medi-Calinsured children ages 3 to 5 dropped from 76% to 59% from 2019 to 2020, Ng said.
Kindergarten oral health assessment rates at schools throughout the county dropped from 60% in the 2019-2020 school year to 44% in 2020-2021, Ng said. Under a state law that took effect in 2007, every child is supposed to have a dental exam before starting kindergarten.
“Because of COVID we couldn't do much dentistry
“Dental disease disproportionately impacts lower-income children and children of color.”
— Danika Ng, Marin Oral Health Program
in 2020,” said Dr. Connie Kadera, dental director for Marin Community Clinics (MCC).
The county's largest federally qualified health center, MCC has about 35,000
patients, 18,000 of whom also receive their dental care through the organization. MCC has 30 dental chairs, nine of which are for children.
Kadera said COVID-19 caused MCC to stop seeing dental patients for a few months, except for emergencies. After that, dental offices reopened slowly in phases. Now MCC is treating patients who haven't been to a dentist in two or three years, Kadera said.
“They need a lot of procedures,” she said.
There aren't enough to keep up with the demand for appointments, and MCC plans to add four dental chairs perhaps by the end of this year. Adults who don't require emergency care might have to wait several months for an appointment. The wait time for children is about a week.
MCC is partnering with the county to implement
the Marin Oral Health Program, Kadera said. The county is using some of the grant money to pay for dental providers to visit schools to do dental screenings. Kadera said that before COVID-19 arrived in Marin, MCC staff
screened all the students at San Pedro Elementary School.
“We were able to refer those patients who were in pain or had decay to our clinics,” Kadera said.
Ng cited state and national data that show that
lower-income children are twice as likely to experience dental disease compared to their counterparts and that children of color in California suffer dental problems at higher rates.
National data show that school absenteeism caused by dental disease is three times more likely in children with poor oral health, which can lead to poorer academic performance.
The Marin Oral Health Program is also working with local physicians to encourage their patients to get regular dental checkups and seeking to educate the public through school fairs, social media and collaborations with community organizations such as Canal Alliance.
“There is a misapprehension that only sweets cause decay, but it is a bacterial infection,” Kadera said. “We can transmit it to other people.”
Michelle Fadelli, communications manager of First 5 Marin, urged supervisors to provide funding for dental screenings at Marin preschools.
“While it is wonderful to have the K-12 focus, we really think there is a need to fund for early childhood education so children can arrive in kindergarten with good oral health,” Fadelli said.