Cassandra Modeste, left, and Nia Modeste make a mother-daughter day out of the NYSUT Health Care Professionals Forum. Nia is a special ed teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy in New York City and a member of the UFT; her mom 'Sandy' is a health educator with the Graham School Federation of Teachers for the Greenburgh-Graham Special Act School District. Nia attended sessions on team building and counseling, where she learned about how to use questioning techniques to help students open up. 'I'm a transition coordinator. I hook students up with vocational programs and post-secondary education. I need to know what their strengths are, and how I can elicit those strengths and interests.' Photo by Liza Frenette.

Closing the gap in dental health isn't about that space between your teeth; it's raising awareness for dental care since lack of it can affect overall health and learning.

For those without insurance, paying for dental visits can be difficult. In remote areas, dental services can be difficult to access.

Inadequate dental care can lead to gingivitis, periodontal disease, decay and infections that can endanger body health, with risks of bringing on heart attack, diabetes, osteoporosis and pre-term birth in pregnant women.

"Whenever you have an infection in your body, it can travel in the bloodstream and it can lodge anywhere in your body," said Susan Forsyth, a professor at Monroe Community College, speaking at NYSUT's annual Health Care Professionals Forum last month.

In many districts, it used to be common to have a school dental hygienist on staff; with budget cuts over the years, it has become rare.

"More and more responsibilities are falling on the shoulders of school nurses," Forsyth said.

Her colleague, David Lawrence, a member of NYSUT's Health Care Professionals Council, stressed, "There's a need for affordable dental health care."

Lawrence and Forsyth both teach dental studies to future dental hygienists and assistants at the suburban Rochester community college. They are members of the MCC Faculty Association, led by Charlie Clarke.

They also work with students at the college's distance learning sites in Cuba, Dunkirk and Watertown. MCC has dental clinics at all these sites, as well as one in Buffalo.

The clinic on campus in Rochester treats 6,000 to 8,000 patients a year, regardless of ability to pay.

School clinics

At NYSUT's "Ending the Gap" conference last fall, several speakers called for establishing school-based health clinics to offer vital services for kids from low-income and uninsured families, including medical, dental, vision and counseling.

Speaking at the conference, education columnist Richard Rothstein said the clinics would tackle health problems that prevent children from learning.

"Health clinics would be more cost-effective than remedial education," Rothstein said at the Gap conference.

"Without all aspects of preventive care, students end up in emergency rooms with more expensive and more threatening conditions," said NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue. Her office oversees health care issues for the statewide union.

Forsyth recommends that children see a dentist by the age of 2. Here's how it works for young, first-time visitors, Forsyth-style.

She saw a 5-year-old recently at a rural clinic who was only there because her grandfather was being treated. The girl had never been to a dentist.

Forsyth convinced her to sit "for a ride in the chair." She put on a bib and showed her how the air and water work in the rinse gadgets. Then she offered to count her teeth.

Forsyth sighed.

"There was so much decay," she said. This can affect oral health, as well as the health and placement of the permanent teeth.

— Liza Frenette