LIVERMORE — Students from low-income families in Spruce Mountain schools this year are receiving critical, non-reimbursed dental hygiene services.

Maine Dental Health Out-Reach, Inc. received a $5,000 grant from Northeast Delta Dental Foundation to help cover costs at Spruce Mountain Primary School.

“We’re thrilled to receive the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation’s annual support. These funds were used to decrease tooth decay in Spruce Mountain Primary School,” said Susanne LaVallee, director of Maine Dental Health Out-Reach.

The Livermore Falls Advertiser reached out to LaVallee to learn more about the program.

A dental hygienist, LaVallee is the founder and director of Maine Dental Health-Out Reach, Inc. and has been in that capacity since its inception in 2003.

“This is my twenty-first year providing oral health services to students,” she wrote in a recent email. “I also advocate at the state-wide level for children’s oral health, working with the Partnership for Children’s Oral Health by serving on their School Oral Health Action Team and developing the School Oral Health Provider’s Community of Practice.”

MDHO is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that has provided oral health care services to children in a mobile van at Central and Western Maine Schools since 2005, LaVallee noted.

“From 2003-2005 MDHO was known as “Tooth Angels”, and changed names after qualifying for 501(c)(3) status,” she wrote. “MDHO offers dental services to children who are unable to find dental care in traditional dental settings. All of the children we see are MaineCare eligible [Medicaid].”

MDHO operates with two dental hygienists — Susanne Lavallee and Sherry Laliberte — and one part-time dentist — Dr. Barbara Oesterlin — who treat students during school hours in its 2-operatory mobile dental van, LaVallee said.

This year MDHO will visit the four schools of Regional School Unit 73.

“In past years we have treated students throughout Central and Western Maine in up to 36 schools,” LaVallee noted. “However, the needs at RSU 73 have doubled and there is little dental care available for MaineCare students [formerly Medicaid] in this area. Because of this I decided to serve only the RSU 73 students this year. That was a very difficult decision for me to make, but I chose the RSU 73 students over the Augusta students because there is a dental clinic in Augusta those students can get into. There is no such thing in Livermore/Jay.”

RSU 73 has needs that LaVallee has not seen in the 22 years she has been providing care there. “I am assuming that the students in all Maine schools are in the same situation as we all went through COVID-19,” she wrote.

Previously, MDHO could see 400-600 students per year, LaVallee noted. This year a little over 200 students in the Spruce Mountain schools will be seen, she wrote.

“The time we spend with each child has doubled due to higher decay rates, which results in more necessary treatments and restorations,” she noted. “While there is a backlog of needed care now, I am hoping that with both Sherry Laliberte and I treating kids and Dr. Osterlin as our dentist we will make a dramatic reduction in the dental needs at RSU 73. We hope that in the next year or so we can begin to serve other districts as well as RSU 73.”

LaVallee has been providing dental hygiene care in schools for the past 22 years and has never seen decay rates like this before. “Every day was shocking at the middle/high schools last year and this year at the primary and elementary schools are no different,” she noted. “I am saddened to see how COVID-19 has devastated our children’s mouths.”

This year 220 RSU 73 students in grades kindergarten through high school qualified for dental care, LaVallee wrote. “This fall we saw 68 students at Spruce Mountain Primary School and we are currently treating students at the elementary school. We will then move on to the middle school and high school,” she noted.

All students who qualify to be seen by MDHO are MaineCare eligible [low income] and not have current access to dental. At the start of the school year all RSU 73 families were sent an application to our program.

MaineCare insurance [formerly Medicaid] reimburses MDHO for half of its program costs with grants and donations relied on for the remainder. MDHO provides its services to schools only.

“The children we see in these communities are in such need of dental care,” Sherry Laliberte, associate director of MDHO said. “We spend a great deal of time providing oral health education and nutritional counseling to these children in hopes to raise their oral health literacy and prevent further tooth decay. The grant provided from Northeast Delta Dental is going to assist in paying for dental services which are not covered by MaineCare.”

All schools MDHO work with embrace its oral health program, LaVallee noted. “Over the years they have seen positive outcomes for their students and are an integral part of making the program successful,” she wrote. “Over the last 21 years we have provided 14,900 dental hygiene appointments. We placed over 36,550 sealants, and 3,302 temporary fillings. Access to good dental care is a benefit that may change a child’s life. When the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community are healthy, then we all benefit.”

MDHO is often the only dental care the children have ever received for a variety of reasons, but often due to a shortage of dentists in the area and lack of dentists accepting MaineCare, LaVallee noted. “One patient’s mother wrote, “It has been frustrating and sad not to receive the care that my child needs…I am so grateful to [MDHO] for caring for my child’s dental needs and giving honest, quality care.” We hear a similar sentiment from most parents so it is more important than ever for us to be a safety net organization so that all children receive regular dental care.”

MDHO depends on grants and donations to continue its work of improving the oral health of Maine’s children. To learn more about MDHO and how to support its community efforts visit www.mdhoi.org. Donations can be sent to Maine Dental Health Out-Reach, Inc. C/O Spruce Mountain Elementary School, 12 Tiger Dr, Jay, ME 04239.

Northeast Delta Dental Foundation’s mission is to improve the access to, and the quality of, oral health care and education for the public and the dental communities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The Foundation’s purpose aligns well with MDHO’s goal to improve the oral health of Maine children through providing comprehensive dental hygiene and dentist services to children that receive no regular dental care and including oral health education and nutritional counseling in hopes of raising oral health literacy and prevent further tooth decay.

MDHO is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that provides oral health care services such as cleanings, temporary fillings, restorations and extractions, to under-served children in a mobile van in central and western Maine schools. Since 2003, MDHO has provided over 14,900 dental appointments to children ages 4-18, 98% of whom are MaineCare eligible. MDHO recently added dentist Oesterlin and hygienist Laliberte who have over 50 years of combined experience. To learn more about MDHO and how to support its community efforts, visit www.mdhoi.org.

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