Public Life Advocate

401 Frederica Street, B-203
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
(270) 685-2652 | FAX (270) 685-6074

Dental care for disadvantaged youth

Local options for expanded services

by Rodney Berry

Community Options: Expanding Dental Care for Disadvantaged Youth

4. Focus on prevention

Most dental problems can be prevented. Our community strategy should focus on comprehensive dental education to keep teeth and gums healthy.

Those who support this option may say

Those who oppose this option may say

Many people are not aware of the dental problems they may cause through their behaviors.
Many people are not aware of the additional problems and dangerous medical complications that can result from poor dental hygiene and untreated problems.
Our community would not need a dental clinic or as many dentists (and dental insurance premiums would be significantly less) if the people of our community practiced responsible dental hygiene from an early age.

Community education campaigns must be well-funded and sustained over long periods of time to be effective.
It is difficult to change the behavior of many people, particularly youth, and acute needs cannot be ignored.
Substance abuse (particularly as it relates to methamphetamine) is the cause of many dental problems in our community. A focus on substance abuse prevention would make more of an impact than dental
education.

Costs

An effective local public information campaign may require several hundred thousand dollars per year.

Consequences

Carefully crafted, assiduous public information campaigns can be effective. For example, Mothers Against Drunk Driving fundamentally changed public attitudes toward driving while under the influence of alcohol.

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