COLUMBIA, — February is National Children's Dental Health Month, and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) Oral Health Division has some information to share.
The division, established to educate South Carolinians about dental and oral health, said oral health is part of a child's overall medical health.
DHEC officials said replacing toothbrushes after recovering from illnesses like influenza, coronavirus, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is important. They also urge people not to share a toothbrush.
"Making sure that parents and children are aware of brushing their teeth morning and night time, flossing every day, finding a dental home," program coordinator and dental hygienist Michele Brown said. "Also, making sure that they eat the most nutritious things, fruits and vegetables; and so that is the unique part about National Children's Dental Health Month and gets us really excited because it gives us an opportunity to give all the resources that we have available here at the division and spread them all out across the state of South Carolina."
The division said assessment data over the past several years shows increased treated and untreated tooth decay among children in South Carolina. DHEC officials said they want dental health education to increase and tooth decay across the state to decrease.
"COVID has definitely, we can say, has had an impact from the data that we're looking at preliminarily right now," Mary Jones of the DHEC Oral Health Division said. "So, addressing that and looking at how we want to do increasing education, particularly in certain parts of the state, that we might need to look at, and tracing engagement with parents around the issue and informing educators across the state."
DHEC officials said the Oral Health Division has public health dental prevention programs, including school programming. The division said it coordinates with dental providers across the state who want to participate and service schools with items like fluoride varnish. DHEC recommends parents talk to their school nurse or contact the Oral Health Division to learn more.
In February, division officials said they support free traveling puppet shows across the state's schools, made possible through a partnership with the Columbia Marionette Theater and grant funding through the American Dental Association. The division said the shows have been around since 2007 and travel to more than 50 locations.
DHEC's Oral Health Division also supports programming from Head Start Centers that promote brushing.
The division said that Federally Qualified Health Centers, which typically have one location in each county, can have dental clinics present. Cost is determined through a sliding scale based on income.
Visit SCFreeClinics.org to find free clinics.
DHEC Oral Health Division officials said that a Medicaid benefit for a child covers fluoride varnish four times a year in a medical setting and two times a year in a dental setting for at-risk children up to seven years old.
