Keanna, a student at St. Maria Goretti Elementary School, is treated by a dental student.
Every year, the School of Dentistry at the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta provides approximately 150 children with dental health care.
Six schools across the capital region are selected per year to be part of the School Visit Program, which operates over a five week period in lower socio-economic areas of Edmonton, and St. Maria Goretti Elementary School is one of them. The program enables a group of children in kindergarten through Grade 6 to be bussed to the School of Dentistry dental clinics to receive a check up, cleaning and basic dental treatment.
"What most people don't realize is that your child should start going to see a dentist when they turn one year old, or at the first sight of a tooth," said Maryam Amin, associate professor and division head of pediatric dentistry at the School of Dentistry. "Visiting the dentist in a child's early years will lessen the fear they may have as they grow older."
The School Visit Program also serves as bridge program between the School of Dentistry and Alberta Health Services' dental public-health program, which identifies high-needs schools across Edmonton for participation in the program.
School eligibility is based on a history of high dental needs in the school, and the willingness of the school to arrange a parent information meeting and to assist in transportation of the students to UAlberta. In the case of St. Maria Goretti School, the cost of the bus is funded by the school's parent council.
"The parents at St. Maria Goretti School are highly supportive of this program," said Karen Craig, principal of the school. "More than fifty per cent of the parents have provided consent for their child to participate in the program." Craig accompanies the children when they come for their visit, which is on Wednesday mornings. "For some, it's like a field trip," she says, and that it's a "win-win" situation, in that the dental students get to learn and the children receive much-needed treatment.
Althea, a St. Maria Goretti student who is six years old, is receiving treatment through the program. "She needed quite a bit of work," said her mom Khailah. "I just want to make sure her teeth are getting fixed because my daughter is my priority."
The School Visit Program is a team effort, says Ida Kornerup, clinical assistant professor in the School of Dentistry. "It takes a lot of staff to help make this happen," she says. "There are the patient services clerks, the RDAs, the dental hygienists, the clinic supervisor and, of course, the students who provide the treatment."
In addition to promoting good oral heath in children, the goal of the School Visit Program is to provide low-income parents an opportunity for their children to have access to dental care.