For students who can't get to a dentist regularly, county health officials have a creative solution -- bring the dentists to them.

On Dec. 18, about 50 students in kindergarten through second grade at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup had dental sealant applied to their molars, an effort to prevent cavities and other dental problems. Bollman Bridge is one of a dozen schools in the county that will receive the dental visits this school year.

"It makes a real difference in preventing chronic diseases," said Dr. Peter Beilenson, county health officer. "We've been able to increase tenfold, maybe twentyfold, the number of children in the county who receive dental treatment."

The program began three years ago and consists of three visits, said Sue Camardese, a public health dental hygienist with Chase Brexton Health Services, a chain of community health clinics that coordinates the program with the county and the school system.

In the first visit, students are taught about proper dental care and notes are sent home to their parents asking for permission to treat the children.

If the parents agree, the students participate in a second visit, during which dental professionals examine their teeth and apply fluoride. The third and last visit is to add the sealant.

If a student needs immediate care, a note is sent home to the parents. For families that do not have health insurance or cannot afford care, Chase Brexton arranges for them to receive treatment.

School nurses are helping reach out to parents to encourage them to participate in the program, said Donna Heller, health services coordinator for the school district.

Although this is the third year for the program, it is the first time Chase Brexton staff have worked on it, she said. The number of schools increased from 10 last year to 12 this year, and only Title I schools, which have a higher percentage of children from low-income families, are targeted, she said.

"We tried to pick the schools with the most need," Heller said.

Molars targeted

At Bollman Bridge on Dec. 18, two dentists and two dental assistants worked with Camardese to first apply a gel to the children's molars before shining a blue light on it to harden it. The sealants can last anywhere from weeks to years.

The molars are targeted specifically because they are farther back in the mouth, have a lot of grooves where plaque and bacteria can accumulate and are harder for children to reach with a toothbrush.

Some children got to watch others go through the process first so they would not be scared.

Although a few children seemed nervous, more followed the example of Evan Atkins, 7, one of the second-graders who received sealants on his teeth.

He said he wasn't scared, but he didn't exactly enjoy the procedure, either.

"It was a little nasty," he said of the sealant.

The county and school district plans to analyze the participation rate to see if there are ways to encourage more parents to allow their children to receive treatment.

Dental care has become more of a priority in the state since the death of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, the Prince George's County boy who died in February 2007 because of a brain infection caused by an untreated abscess. The family did not have dental insurance and was unable to find a dentist to treat the boy's toothache until it was too late, according to news reports at the time.

Last month, the state announced a new program where a mobile van would travel around Prince George's County and other areas to provide dental care to children at schools.

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