Quaboag Agencies Offer Oral Heath Services to Children

WARE — Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, The Carson Center at Valley Human Services, and the Quaboag Hills Community Coalition have teamed up with Partners for a Healthier Community’s BEST (Bringing Early Education, Screening and Treatment) oral health program to educate children and families about the importance of oral health and increase access to dental services to children in Quaboag region communities.

In response to new regulations from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, beginning Jan. 1, 2010, the program’s goal is to eliminate barriers to oral health care so children and families can achieve good oral health, which is vitally important for overall health. The new regulations will require that all family child care homes, center-based programs, and educators assist children with brushing their teeth whenever they are in care for more than four hours or whenever they consume a meal while in care.

Area preschool children will now have access to the BEST oral health program at their preschools and child care centers. BEST provides oral health education for staff, children, and parents; oral screenings; portable dental services; and referrals for children 6 months to 5 years old.

As part of this initiative, the Quaboag Hills Community Coalition has also created an Oral Health Resource Distribution Center at the Carson Center at Valley Human Services in Ware, which will allow more than 130 rural early-education and child-care providers access to oral health training and low-cost oral health products such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and education materials.

“We are excited about this collaboration which can positively affect the oral health of more than 1,800 children in Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester counties,” said Christine Shirtcliff, president of Baystate Mary Lane Hospital. The BEST Program will enable us to increase access to dental care to hundreds of preschoolers.

“The BEST oral health program has created a partnership that has strengthened the work of the Quaboag Hills Community Coalition and its members, including the Carson Center at Valley Human Services and Baystate Mary Lane Hospital,” she continued. “This project serves not only to address the oral health disparities in Quaboag Hills region, but also serves as a conduit for additional community-wide efforts addressing initiatives for health promotion and disease prevention.”

For more information about the BEST oral health program, contact Michelle Holmgren, community outreach coordinator at Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, at (413) 967-2296.