Dental disease preventive programs in a rural Appalachian population

The objective of the dental disease prevention and early intervention program at Youngstown State University is to 1) educate future dental hygienists on the provision of primary care in a non-traditional dental care setting and 2) provide access to preventive and simple restorative care for an underserved rural Appalachian population. Through their education in dental public health courses, students are prepared to provide preventive oral healthcare services to underserved populations in non-traditional clinical settings. Senior dental hygiene students in the dental public health course sequence work in pairs, along with a supervising dentist using a mobile dental unit at the Child and Family Health Services Clinic in Lisbon, Ohio. Ninety-eight hours of preventive oral health services and simple restorative care were provided in 1996. Student evaluations of the overall extramural clinical experience were positive. The program is an example of a collaborative community-based approach to meet the oral health needs of low-income families.