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America’s ToothFairy is grateful for the support of Pro2 Solutions, the makers of Cranberry and BeeSure dental product lines. Their generosity helped us provide essential resources to our Dental Resource Program members, including Ravenswood Family Dentistry (RFD) in East Palo Alto, CA and Kids’ Community Dental Clinic (KCDC) in Burbank, CA. Both safety-net dental clinics received Pro2 Solutions ToothFairy grants to support dental screening events for children facing limited access to dental care. In addition, Pro2 Solutions donated BeeSure masks and Cranberry brand gloves to the clinics to help keep both staff and patients healthy during the pandemic.
RFD serves families living in the low-income communities of San Mateo County and Santa Clara County—communities that have been cut off from the economic prosperity of Silicon Valley. Despite the importance of dental care to children’s healthy development, research shows that about half of San Mateo county residents with low socioeconomic status have not received a recent dental exam. Lack of insurance, difficulty finding dentists who accept Medi-Cal coverage, and inability to pay for dental care are the most commonly reported barriers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, RFD has continued to be a dental home for underserved children within these communities. The Pro2 Solutions ToothFairy grant helped RFD provide oral health screenings for vulnerable children by supporting a preschool virtual screening program, in which the dental team trained the teachers to take photos of children’s teeth and apply fluoride varnish. Photos were sent to RFD’s dentists for screening. Last year, RFD completed 2,913 dental health screenings, which is about twice as many screenings than they complete in a typical year. This essential service helps identify emergent and urgent dental health needs and connect children with a dental home.
“In the past, our team members would go into schools to conduct these tasks through our Virtual Dental Home program,” RFD’s Jessica Yee told us, “however, COVID restrictions have limited our ability to enter schools. Our new program empowers teachers to participate in their students’ dental health, and allow students to maintain access to care during this challenging period.”
In a typical year KCDC provides screenings at more than 60 Head Start and Early Head Start preschools as well as Elementary Schools, screening more than 8,000 students. In 2020, due to COVID restrictions, the number of students that received this essential service was slashed by nearly 68%. With their grant, KCDC was able to provide resources so UCLA Dental Students and Pasadena City College Dental Hygiene students could safely conduct community outreach events, including screenings and drive-thru fluoride events with schools and community organizations.
Each year our program members provide dental services to hundreds of thousands of kids in communities with restricted access to dental care. ToothFairy grants and product donations from generous corporate sponsors like Pro2 Solutions help them serve more kids who may otherwise miss out on the dental services they need to stay healthy.
For more information about donating products to support our members, please contact Robin Vann at programs@ncohf.org.
