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Dental Education, Training & Services
Oral Health Screenings
Access to dental care for citizens of Montana who are poor, uninsured, underinsured, and who live in rural areas of the state has been an important issue in the state for the past eight years. The importance of oral health received national attention in 2000 through the Surgeon General's Report - Oral Health in America. This report stated that oral health is an essential component of overall health and well-being. One of the goals of the Montana Area Health Educations and the Office of Rural Health is to improve oral health through a number of collaborative initiatives. In 2001, the Montana AHEC in affiliation with the Gallatin County Dental Alliance initiated an oral health screening program as part of its contribution to the Montana Dental Action Plan. A major activity of the Gallatin County Dental Alliance is to provide annual dental screening to elementary school students in the county.
This program utilizes volunteer dentists and dental hygienists to evaluate the oral health of students. This School-Based Oral Health Screening Program has demonstrated that it is a feasible and viable method to determine the oral health status of elementary school students. In 2008, dental screenings were conducted in thirteen (13) communities. The schools screened in 2008 are shown on the following map.
Oral Health Screening Results
2008 Results coming soon!
2007 Screening Results
2007 Urgent Needs Treated
2006 Screening Results
2006 Number of Students with Sealants
2005 Screening Results
2004 Screening Results
2003 Screening Results
2002 Screening Results
2001 Screening Results
Comparison Chart of 7 years of Screening Results
Regional Initiatives in Dental Education
In response to the lack of access to dental care by many citizens living in rural areas in the WWAMI states, the University of Washington School of Dentistry (UWSD) and the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSM) developed a new program called Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE). The Dean of the UWSD (Dr. Martha Somerman) and the Director of RIDE at the UWSM (Dr. Wendy Mouradian) are coordinating the development of the RIDE program in Montana with dentists, Montana Dental Association (Mary McCue), Community Health Centers, Division of Health Sciences and WWAMI Program Medical Program at Montana State University (Dr. Linda Hyman) and the Montana WWAMI Clinical Education Coordinator (Dr. Jay Erickson). Long-term plans may include consideration of creating a regional dental education and training program similar to the existing regional WWAMI medical program.
One of the first initiatives of the RIDE program was to provide opportunities for UWSD dental students to do clinical rotations in Montana; similar to the Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP) of the UWSM. As part of the RIDE program, the Montana AHEC places dental students in Community Health Centers.
Click here to read the UWSD RIDE Feasibility Study for the Establishment of a First-Year Site at MSU
Gallatin County Dental Alliance
The Montana AHEC is an active participant in the Gallatin County Dental Alliance and provides a number of facilitation and coordination services. Members of the alliance include: (a) HRDC Head Start, (b) Gallatin City-County Health Department, (c) Community Health Partners-CHC, (d) Bozeman Public Schools, (e) dentists in private practice, (f) dental hygienists, (g) Gallatin Community Clinic, (h) Child Care Connections, (i) Prevent Child Abuse and (j) Montana AHEC.
A major activity of the Gallatin County Dental Alliance is providing dental screenings at elementary schools in Gallatin County. Oral health screenings are conducted in February as an activity of Children’s Dental Health Month. Children identified with dental health problems are referred to their parents, participating dentists and/or to the Gallatin Community Clinic. The Montana AHEC collects and maintains annual data on screenings. One of the goals is to use the Gallatin County Dental Alliance dental screening program as a model for use in other Montana counties.
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