A school-based dental program that can prevent up to 80% of cavities is coming to three New Hampshire school districts.
CariedAway™ NH Concord, an innovative cavity prevention program developed by researchers at NYU College of Dentistry (NYU Dentistry), has received a $1 million, three-year award from Northeast Delta Dental to launch in elementary and middle schools in Concord, Pittsfield, and the Merrimack Valley school district. The program will use point-of-care technology created by Massachusetts-based New England Survey Systems (NESS) to design precision treatment plans.
In New Hampshire, one in 20 children entering kindergarten has untreated cavities. This grows to one in four students leaving high school with dental decay. In both children and adults, untreated dental cavities are more common than diabetes and heart disease combined, according to a 2022 World Health Organization report.
Without timely care, these preventable dental infections can lead to pain, school absences, and lower academic and job performance. Bringing cavity prevention to children at schools can eliminate the barriers to receiving preventive and curative dental care that many families face, including cost and taking time off work and school.
“Our goal is to measurably improve children’s oral health, quality of life, and school performance,” said Richard Niederman, DMD, professor of epidemiology & health promotion at NYU Dentistry and founder of CariedAway. “With New Hampshire’s pent-up demand for adult dental care overwhelming dentists, CariedAway sets children on a healthy path for their future.”
“We are proud to support a program that has been shown to effectively arrest and prevent tooth decay in children,” explained Tom Raffio, President & CEO, Northeast Delta Dental. “CariedAway not only improves the oral health of children in New Hampshire but also encourages them to develop good oral health routines early in life.”
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