Center for Oral Health
309 East Second Street
Pomona, CA
United States
Since its inception in 2016, the Early Smiles program has been pivotal in providing
preventive dental services to children. In Sacramento County alone, the program annually educates 45,000 students, screens 27,000 children, and administers 21,000 fluoride varnish applications across 16 school districts.
The Center proposes to utilize the success of the Early Smiles Program to advance policy reform in California. At the local level, The Center will advocate for the adoption of passive consent policies for kindergarten oral health assessments (meaning parents would need to notify school if they do NOT want to participate). At the state level, The Center will advocate to include additional preventive services within the State Medi-Cal Dental program, establishing integrated wellness centers in school districts within Sacramento, Yolo, Alpine, and Trinity counties, and address systemic barriers by utilizing Early Smiles program data to perform a detailed needs assessment.
The Center for Oral Health is requesting $125,000 for this work which is 6% of the
organization’s overall budget. About $75,000 will be utilized to support staff, $13,695 for travel, data collection, and dissemination of materials, and $20,000 for an evaluation consultant.
This proposal is one of ten selected finalists for the School-Based and School-Linked Initiatives to Improve Oral Health RFP.