CVSD Works To Promote Dental Health

Reaching Conestoga Valley School District (CVSD) parents of school-age children with a message about the importance of good dental health is a goal for Nancy Lopez, CVSD district nurse coordinator. To let parents know that dental evaluations and care are available to children in need, she and her fellow CVSD nurses send home paperwork and use district social media to get the word out.

Lopez noted that in certain grades - kindergarten or first grade, third grade, and seventh grade - dental examinations are mandatory, but that other students who need dental care may also be helped by CVSD programs. "First and foremost, we have Smile Program ... The Mobile Dentists," said Lopez, who noted that the organization brings dental chairs, hygienists, and a dentist to the district at least once a year to perform screenings, cleanings, and X-rays and even to provide care, such as cavity restorations. The mobile care team is scheduled a year in advance, and once a student is seen by the team, a six-month reminder is sent to the student to make sure care continues. Students who need extensive dental work are referred to a local dentist.

School dentist Dr. Sara Gotwalt visits the district yearly to complete evaluations for students in the mandatory grades. Gotwalt makes recommendations to district nurses, who then contact a student's parents if further treatment is necessary. Lopez reported that the Conestoga Valley Education Foundation has provided a grant to help cover dental work for students in need for whom the expense would create a financial hardship.

Teaching students the necessity of good dental home care from a young age is another goal Lopez shared. "Dental education is done at the elementary level," she explained, adding that school nurses focus on kindergarten through second grade, but that they may also work with older students, including life-skills classes in middle and high school, depending on need. "They talk about how to brush and floss and the importance of seeing a dentist and nutrition," said Lopez, who added that nurses provide extra-large sets of model teeth to children to practice their home care skills at school.

According to Lopez, the district hopes to raise parental awareness of the need for good dental health, so CVSD children may benefit from the services that are offered. "Unless a student comes and complains of a toothache or we pick up on (an issue) in the mandatory grades, (we might not know)," Lopez explained.

More information about CVSD may be found at http://www.conestogavalley.org.