MCD Global Health works with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to improve the oral health of children across Maine.
In celebration of National Children’s Dental Health Month, the center aims to bring further awareness to this issue through its annual School Oral Health Program’s poster contest, according to a news release from the global health nonprofit and National Public Health Institute.
Open to public school students from preschool through sixth grade in Maine during February, students are challenged to create an illustrated poster on what oral health means to them. Public voting takes place in four separate categories based on grade in the first week of March, and winners from each category receive a prize that includes an electronic toothbrush, floss, reading material and toothpaste.
Sherry Laliberte, program manager and registered dental hygienist for the Maine CDC’s School Oral Health Program, coordinates the annual poster contest, sending information to Maine public schools about the poster contest each year as well as oral health resources and teaching materials that anyone can use to teach children about the importance of their oral health.
The deadline to submit a poster for the contest is noon Tuesday, Feb. 28.
The submitted posters for the contest will be available for public voting for three days after the posters are gathered, and winners will be notified by March 6. To learn more about the poster contest or submit a poster, email Laliberte at slaliberte@mcd.org.
For details and rules for the contest, visit mcd.org.
In addition to the contest, twice a year the center’s team of registered dental hygienists, along with volunteer dentists, perform oral screenings and fluoride varnish treatments to students in Maine public schools. During the 2021-2022 school year, its team visited 196 schools for dental screenings; saw nearly 17,000 students for dental screenings; and referred 18.7 percent of those students seen for dental care.
“Tooth decay remains the most prominent childhood disease in America. Oral health issues can go undetected without regular checkups,” said Laliberte, who conducts oral health screenings in public schools across Maine. “Through the SOHP, we can identify those children who are in need of dental care and help in getting them into the offices of qualified dental providers.”
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