Dental program provides services for Wood Schools students
PARKERSBURG - For the past 12 years, Wood County Schools has partnered with the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department to provide free dental services to area students.
The Oral Disease Prevention Program (ODPP) is a partnership between the school system and the health department to provide a mobile dental unit which visits schools and performs evaluations and services for qualifying students. The focus is on those students who do not receive regular dental care.
Wood County Schools Coordinator of Health Services Julie Bertram said the health department provides a hygienist and assistant as well as medical billing, and the school system provides coordination and facilities.
“We have been working to build this program with (MOVHD Oral Health Coordinator) Mary Beth Shea since 2008,” Bertram said. “We began the program by setting up mini clinics in our buildings with portable equipment, but now we use the Wood County Schools Mobile Health and Emergency Services unit.”
The school nurses help identify which students in their buildings have not seen a dentist in the prior year, Bertram said. Parents are contacted and dental consents are sent home with each child.
“The school nurses remind parents to complete the paperwork and return it to school, then the nurse creates the clinic schedule for her assigned 2-day clinic rotation,” Bertram said. “Every school is assigned two days, or more if needed, for students to receive dental cleanings, screenings and sealants.”
The program is funded in part by a small grant from the West Virginia Oral Health Program which helps offset some of the administrative and equipment costs.
Bertram said the program serves about 450 students each year, and about 10 percent of those students end up requiring urgent care.
The health department “works with local dentists and the families to get those children the restorative care they need,” Bertram said. “We are very proud of this school-based health service.”