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Dental Community Services
The focus of the Dental Community Services team is to make sure every child has access to quality dental care. Our team serves over 50 schools across San Diego County, bringing screenings and on-site fluoride application directly into schools. We also participant in health fairs and back-to-school events throughout the community. By bringing services and information directly to children in the community, we hope to normalize dental care and raise awareness about the importance of oral health. Our goal is straightforward – make dental care accessible for all children, one smile at a time!
What happens during a visit from our Dental Community Services team?
- SYHealth will arrive on-site with a Dental Provider, Dental Assistant, and a Coordinator.
- Upon arrival, we transform your multi-purpose space or classroom into a mini-clinic by sanitizing the space to clinic-level standards and preparing our supplies for dental screenings. Once we are set-up, children with signed consent forms are welcomed into the space.
- One-by-one our trained Dental Provider completes a visual Dental exam for each student, while educating them on proper brushing and oral hygiene standards.
- Each screening is carefully documented. From the notes, SYHealth support staff on-site create a Dental Report Card for each student – which is provided to the school’s health clerk to be passed along to the student’s parents.
- For students with additional parental consent, our Dental Provider will even apply a fluoride solution to the student’s teeth to prevent future decay!
- Once the exam is over, each student selects an age-appropriate toothbrush and sticker – and heads back to class with a smile on their face!
- After the visit, for children needing additional dental care, the SYHealth dental clinic closest to the child’s home will reach out to their parents and offer an appointment to the child. We've found that for students and parents, this connection to off-site care is the preferred approach compared to doing sensitive dental procedures in public, in front of other students. This is also an important way that SYHealth helps each child establish a sustainable dental home for future care. Our goal is a lifetime of dental health - not a one-time solution!
