1512-11699

This investment supports Future Smiles to continue to develop and implement an evaluation to determine the impact of providing oral health education, assessment, and care in schools on student academic performance. Specifically, Future Smiles will conduct oral health screening of participating youth and validate visual oral health status screenings performed by hygienists; design and implement an evaluation that measures the impact of school-based oral health programs on academic performance; and engage families and communities around oral health and determine its value from their individual perspectives. Schools continue to be an underutilized resource for children’s health and oral health, in particular. Children representing gap populations are less likely to access oral care in a traditional dental home. Providing care and education within a school-based setting promotes the well-being of these individuals. Demonstrating the added value of these services is critical to ensuring the sustainability of programs such as Future Smiles and the development of policies that support this work across the country. $248,226 will be used to support personnel time, consultants' time to support the design and implementation of the evaluation, travel to national conferences and school sites, and administrative costs necessary for the proposal's implementation. This work aligns with the Oral Health 2020 Goal of incorporating oral health into the primary education system and the target that by 2020, the 10 largest school districts have incorporated oral health into their systems.