The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida - Other School Department Based Activities
Preventive Dental Services
The Dental Sealant Project, funded by the Marjorie S. Fisher Fund, has provided dental screenings for over 31,000 children and placed over 87,500 sealants on second grade students since 1997. Despite changes in funding and staff support, dental staff from the Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County continue committed to provide this program in 31 Title 1 schools (see table below). This program utilizes a state of the art two dental chair mobile clinic on wheels called the “Tooth Fairy”. The team collaborates with school nurses to refer sealant program participating children needing urgent dental care.
- During the 2016-2017 school year, 1,937 students were screened by the dental team and 4,814 sealants were placed. Data continued to show that a high percentage of students needed dental care and 95 of these had severe needs. This untreated dental decay continues above the national averages.
| Elementary Schools Participating in Dental Sealant Program |
| Barton, Belle Glade, Belvedere, K.E. Cunningham/Canal Point, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Forest Park, Glade View, Gove, Greenacres, Grove Park, Highland, Hope-Centennial, Indian Pines, Lake Park, Liberty Park, Lincoln, Northmore, Pahokee, Palmetto, Palm Springs, Pine Grove, Pioneer Park, Pleasant City, Rolling Green, Roosevelt, Rosenwald, South Grade, Washington, West Gate, West Riviera, Wynnebrook |
The Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County - Dental Division’s “Coordinated Oral Health Access Referral Program” (COHARP) is a case management and referral program to help school children with acute dental needs. These children are referred from either the Dental Sealant Program, RAMS Health Clinic at Palm Beach Lakes HS, or from the school nurses in Palm Beach County schools. Children identified with immediate dental needs will have the ability to be seen for urgent care in one of the community partner clinics or contracted providers.