Goal: by 2025 every Maine student, from pre-K to high school graduation, can receive the full range of oral health care services through a coordinated system—sustainably supported and data informed—that includes families, schools, dental providers, local organizations, and communities.
Initiatives
Connecting Schools to Oral Health Services
Helping school staff connect with oral health services already available to Maine schools. ...
Blueprint for Expanded School Oral Health Service Delivery
Maine's current School Oral Health Program (SOHP) supports oral health preventive care in close to ...
Thousands of children in Maine have been going without regular routine preventive care because they are unable to access care in a traditional dental office. When preventive oral health care is provided in schools and childcare settings, many barriers to care are removed. This results in more timely services for children and lifelong improvements in oral health and quality of life.
The Network's School Action Team develops innovative approaches and collaborative strategies to increase preventive oral health care for children in school and community settings.
Educators, school nurses, dental hygienists, dentists, parent advocates, funders, state program leaders, policy makers, public health organizations—and more—are all working together to ensure all Maine students from preschool to diploma can have access to preventive oral health services and follow-up care through the place where they spend much of their time: school.
To form the Network's School Action Team, these partners began with an in-depth study of the current status of oral health services in schools. This study provides a snapshot of the school oral health landscape just before the pandemic. Covid, however, has had a huge impact on this landscape. Schools are reporting both more barriers to offering services and more urgent needs as dental disease has progressed rapidly behind kids’ masks. These partners are now developing a blueprint for a comprehensive system of expanded school oral health services statewide.
If you are interested in getting involved with this effort, please fill out our form.