Dental care for all

Dental professionals from Children’s Dental Health Services in Rochester were at the Triton Elementary School earlier this month for a school dental clinic.
The all-day clinic provided dental check-ups, teeth cleanings and oral hygiene information, said Tess Ogren of Triton Elementary.
This is the third year that Triton has participated in the program, she said. The clinic is available at no charge for all students who are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program. While all eligible Triton students can make use of the mobile dental clinic, most of those who participate are elementary age children.
The mobile clinics offer preventative services, Ogren said, but do not do restorative services such as filling cavities at the clinics.
Parents sign their children up for the services, she said, the mobile clinic comes to the school, and the children are called from their classrooms when it is time for them to be seen.
Children’s Dental Health Services provides preventative dental care services at schools throughout the area serving children who do not have a dentist.
The non-profit was founded in 2006 and originally provided preventatives services to children under the age of five at WIC sites. Since then it has grown and now offers services in seven counties and at more than 60 schools in southeast Minnesota. They also offer additional restorative services at their office in Rochester.
Clinic staff members say that the portable dental clinics allow the clinic to eliminate access barriers to dental care. With the mobile unit coming to the school parents do not have to take time off from work, arrange transportation or care of siblings in order to get children to their appointments.
Children are often more comfortable in a familiar setting such as their school rather than a new and unfamiliar dental office.
Besides the portable services at schools, clinics are also offered at WIC, Head Start and Public Health sites.
In addition to Triton Public Schools, the mobile health unit also goes to local public schools in Byron and Kasson-Mantorville.