To reach kids, doctors go back to grade schools
The little girl had no toothbrush to call her own -- until a team of dentists descended on her school in downtown Lynn.
"She was thrilled to death when they gave her a toothbrush, because it was the first toothbrush the family would ever have," said Pat Chipman , school nurse at Lynn's E.J. Harrington School . "So they gave enough for everyone in the family."
For three years, dentists and hygienists from Boston's Forsyth Institute have gone to where the pediatric patients are: elementary schools in Boston, Lynn, and Cape Cod. It's a novel campaign stressing the power of prevention over the pain of treatment. Federal health authorities are so intrigued that they want Forsyth specialists to spread their gospel of prevention to community health centers across the country.
That's because the initiative appears to be working: Later this week, Forsyth researchers will report at a scientific conference that two rounds of preventive treatment meant no more new cavities even for youngsters whose teeth had been cratered in the past.
Their tools are toothbrushes, fluoride, temporary fillings -- and a promise that they will be back for visits twice a year, every year.
"If you try to improve oral health and you're successful, you're really improving the general health of the nation," said Stephen Smith , senior adviser to the administrator of the US Health Resources and Services Administration .
For Forsyth it all has a back-to-the-future patina. Half a century ago, the institute was known as the Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children , and care was dispensed in schools to half-a-million youngsters, including some whose names were Thomas M. Menino (the future mayor) and Jack Connors (the future advertising impresario).
But with the advent of community health centers, Forsyth decided to get out of patient care and concentrate on research into the causes of dental disease and its treatment. Scientists increasingly recognized that the mouth really is a window into the rest of the body and that cavities and gum disease can be harbingers of ailments in the heart and elsewhere.
Those scientific discoveries, many demonstrating the importance of prevention, led Forsyth administrators to conclude that they needed to return to their roots -- treating children.
"From waiting for kids to have cavities and then drilling and filling, we've gone to prevention, which is far less costly, far more effective, and, quite frankly, less traumatic," said Dr. Richard Niederman , director of Forsyth's Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry . "What if we could make going to a dentist as easy as going to school?"
The ForsythKids campaign began in six elementary schools and by this year had expanded to 14. A combination of private dollars and government grants pay for the care.
Forsyth researchers have found that, on average, 77 percent of the children have at least one untreated cavity. Youngsters with cavities get temporary fillings and a referral to a community dentist.
The dentists set up shop wherever there's space. "We've been in a storage closet -- a large one -- on a stage, spare rooms," said Ellen Gould , program manager of ForsythKids. "Wherever there are outlets and availability to water."
They came to Sarah Bago's school, Veterans Memorial Elementary , in Provincetown. Sarah, a second-grader, is one of 1,500 children evaluated so far this school year. Like the other youngsters, a dentist screened her for cavities and other problems (she has none) , and a hygienist applied fluoride as well as sealant, which creates a protective barrier to keep bacteria and debris out of young teeth.
Sarah's mom, Ofelia Bago , had tried repeatedly to cajole her 7-year-old into going to see a dentist. No luck -- until the Forsyth team came to town.
"Sarah was so excited about the experience of going to the dentist," her mother said. "Now, she's like, 'When is the dentist coming again?' Seriously."
Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com. 
