Ready, Set, Smile has been delivering on-site dental treatment and health education to children from underrepresented communities in Minneapolis schools for the last seven years. A culturally-competent agency, Ready, Set, Smile partners with 44 preschools and school-aged children through the 8th grade to ensure all children have access and resources to live productive lives.
It's Tuesday at 7:00 AM and a READY, SET, SMILE team - comprised of a dental therapist, a dental hygienist, a licensed dental assistant, and three community health workers - is busy setting up our portable clinic at Ascension Catholic School in North Minneapolis. We'll be there for the next two school days to treat about 90 students with preventive services including sealants and Silver Diamine Fluoride using noninvasive, decay-controlling techniques. We'll also spend time in their classrooms teaching them how to care for their oral health. This is all done at NO COST to the uninsured students or their families. We only accept Medicaid payments from the insured. What tells the story of this health disparity is that 95% of the children enrolled in our program identify as children of color.
When kids suffer from the pain of a dental cavity, it leads to a lack of appetite, reduced sleep, and decreased school attendance. This, in turn, can negatively impact their mental health, self-esteem, and education. Many think of a dental cavity as a small problem, but if children are unable to find treatment, the small cavity has major, sometimes LIFE-ALTERING CONSEQUENCES.
Without this portable clinic, most, if not all of our patients (over 3,000 total) would have no acess to dental care. Due to financial, language, transportation and/or knowledge constraints, these kids are left untreated - leading to the #1 childhood chronic disease - dental cavities. RSS makes a difference to these children with their vision that prevention is more valuable than treatment. OUR OUTCOMES ARE FANTASTIC; the longer the school is in our program the lower the rate of decay among the children we serve.
