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Healthy smiles all around

BY SHELLIE BRANCO, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sbranco@bakersfield.com | Friday, Feb 2 2007 10:35 PM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 2 2007 10:41 PM

K indergartner Ana Calderon has a tooth sticker for her hand and a toothbrush and toothpaste packed inside a pink pencil case.

The 5-year-old also has two tiny cavities in her front teeth. Heather McMahon, a dental hygienist, found them during a free dental screening Friday at John C. Fremont School in east Bakersfield.

The screening, sponsored by the Kern County Dental Society, was part of the American Dental Association's national Give Kids A Smile Day. About 750,000 children across the country received screenings, according to the association's Web site.

Kern's dental society has been performing free screenings at schools for at least two decades, said Vicki Utt, executive director. Fremont was the dentists' only stop that day.

The likes of Calderon's front-teeth cavities are common in young children, usually caused by juice or milk streaming from a baby bottle, McMahon said. Calderon said she'd never been to the dentist. Why?

"'Cause my teeth don't fell," she said.

The school's 900 students streamed through the parents center throughout the day, Utt said. About 500 to 600 opened their mouths and had their teeth examined. Some of them had "bombed-out teeth," Utt said.

"A couple were just like little black nubs," she added.

Children whose parents didn't sign permission slips for the check-ups watched a video and received bags of toothpaste and toothbrushes. Dental hygienists demonstrated how to brush properly.

A dental check-up could cost between $35 to $175, said Melissa Primus, the society's outgoing president who organized the event. Those prices, however, would include X-rays, something the Friday screenings didn't offer.

Primus said parents would be notified if their children had dental issues. If they can't afford treatment, the society will provide free services.

Sixth-grader Joseph Delrio said his check-up was fine. He only had two cavities. He used to be scared of the dentist, "only when I was little-little," he said. He thought the check-ups were a good idea.

"It teaches younger kids to brush their teeth and stuff," he said.

Delrio's dentist for the day, Joseph Nunez, has been performing free community screenings for 26 years. He said a family's income level has nothing to do with a child's dental health. The problem is a lack of education about the importance of healthy teeth.

Primus said one 12-year-old girl at the school had a buildup on her teeth normally found on 40-year-olds.

Primus worked for Clinica Sierra Vista for eight years. Last year, she visited Bear Mountain Elementary School in Arvin on the national screening day.

"I think I just like to serve the underserved," she said. "I'm a firm believer in whether you have money or don't, you still deserve care."