PRESQUE ISLE – Aroostook County Action Program (ACAP) announced recently that vulnerable young Aroostook County children received a $3,500 boost from Northeast Delta Dental Foundation through a grant to ACAP Kids Integrated Dental Services (KIDS) Program.
Photo courtesy of ACAP
Lucy Morin, ACAP Dental Health consultant, demonstrates the newly-purchased Pro Seal II during an oral cleaning at a WIC clinic in Presque Isle.
ACAP was recently notified that the foundation board voted unanimously to grant funds to support the work of the ACAP KIDS program by providing funding to purchase a Pro Seal II mobile dental unit. The Pro Seal II is a portable, self-contained dental unit that is used to deliver much-needed dental care at remote outreach sites throughout Aroostook County.
In 2002, ACAP established the KIDS Program to improve access to preventive oral health services for the County’s most needy families who do not have a dental home. A registered dental hygienist travels to all ACAP Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinic sites and Head Start centers in Aroostook County with portable dental equipment, offering dental services that include dental screenings, cleanings, sealants and oral hygiene instruction and provides referrals for follow-up treatment to MaineCare-eligible children and family members up to the age of 18.
Donna Kenneson, ACAP senior manager of Health Services, explained that “oral health services provided by ACAP are preventive in nature and are aimed at decreasing the incidence, prevalence and severity of dental disease, while promoting good dental practices at an early age.”
Tooth decay remains the number one unmet childhood disease in the country and Maine is no exception. According to the Maine Dental Access Coalition and the Watch Your Mouth Campaign, of which ACAP is a member, all of Maine’s 16 counties include groups of communities that are considered Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas. This means thousands of kids cannot obtain the basic health services needed to prevent dental decay because there are not enough oral health professionals to provide these services in their area.
“Northeast Delta Dental’s grant brings support and financial resources to the County, increasing oral disease prevention services to children without routine access to a dentist,” said Kenneson.
ACAP provides the people of Aroostook with services and programs in the area of health, child and family, energy and housing and employment and training.
