The Great Schools Partnership is expanding its youth dental program to help with the dental desert in Tennessee, according to Knoxville News Sentinel.
Here are eight notes:
1. The program will provide students free dental screenings and follow-ups.
2. The effort to fill the gap in access to dental care is part of five-year collaboration from several organizations including Knox County Health Department, Elgin Children's Foundation and local dentists.
3. Many Knoxville residents do not have dental insurance and struggle to find affordable dental care. Medicare does not cover routine dental care.
4. TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, will cover children but only covers dental emergencies for adults.
5. Approximately 60 percent of children on TennCare have never had a dental appointment.
6. The Health Department is working with community organizations to bridge the gap in access to dental care. The Health Department saw more than 6,000 adults and 4,200 children for dental care during the 2013 to 2014 fiscal year.
7. Interfaith, a nonprofit healthcare facility providing dental and medical services to low-income working families, provides a contract dentist to administer services twice a week.
8. Cherokee Health System operates a dental clinic in Maynardville, Tenn. They presently have two dentists and hope to expand services to other countries within the next couple years.
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