Dental Programs
CVHN provides comprehensive preventative dental care to children in need in Okaloosa and Walton Counties through our programs. We proudly offer our services at no cost to families, without billing insurance, thanks to the support of private donors, grants, events, and foundations.
Mobile Dental Clinic Program
In 2019, CVHN was blessed with the gift of a new state-of-the-art mobile dental unit by the Dugas Family Foundation. "Pearl," as our MDC is affectionately nicknamed, is a fully loaded operatory clinic on wheels where we can bring free preventative dental care straight to children who are in need. We have since added "Niecy" to our fleet and are on track to serve over 1,400 studens in Okaloosa and Walton Counties.
We are proud to have created a fun fulled environment inside our MDC with interactive educational toys, books, and videos to get our tiny patients excited about taking care of their teeth. The children feel at home on board Pearl and Niecy and love the stickers, pencils and toothbrush kits that they receive after their visit.
Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF):
SDF is a low cost, non-invasive treatment that allows us to painlessly treat cavities on the MDCs. On average, we treat 90% of all cavities on site during the school day. In 2023-2024, 396 students had 1,405 cavities treated by our hygienists with SDF on the MDCs. That's 78% of all students with cavities!
Cleanings • Exams • X-Rays • Visual Assessments • Fluoride Varnish • Oral Hygiene Instruction (OHI) Nutritional Counseling (NC) • Silver Diamine Fluoride • Sealants
MDC School Based Services Include:
MDC Treatment Highlights:
Sealants:
Applying sealants helps protect the grooves of teeth from cavities.
In 2023-2024, 411 students had 1,506 teeth sealed-- that's 48% of all students enrolled in the MDC program!
OHI + NC:
By offering OHI (Oral Hygiene Instruction) and NC (Nutritional Counseling) to the children we serve, they form healthy habits from the repetitive "how-to" instructions.
Ahead of the 2023-2024 school year, the CVHN dental team learned about a new treatment - using Povidone Iodine (PVP-I) - that can reduce cavities by 97% in children and in individual teeth by 94%. Given the low cost and efficiancy of this treatment, CVHN introduced a trial program focusing on earliest intervention at the preschool age. Within this trial, our dental team visited the VPK classrooms of six school every 4-8 weeks for a total of six preventative rotations.
The VPK students also received regular OHII and dental care kits to take home. Our future outlook is to provide 700 treatments to 120 students at 9 schools with six rotations.
Early Intervention Preschool Program
For too many of the children who visit the CVHN Mobile dental clinic each year, our take home dental care kits contain their very first toothbrush "of their own". Often their homes lack toothpaste or floss to allow them to take care of their precious smiles.
CVHN provides a dental care kit to every child who visits our mobile clinic while also delivering kits to other area nonprofits and community partners. Each year this program grows - in 2023-2024, we have provided over $12,500 in dental supplies to children in need in our community.
"My First Toothbrush" Program
An extension of our school based MDC services, our "grins for Good" partnership program focuses on delivering care directly to our nonprofit community partners. Together we are able to reach children most in need of health care and ensure they receive the preventative and urgent services that they need and deserve.
Service Locations:
Children in Crisis • Westonwood Ranch • Youth Village
Boys and Girls Club of the Emerald Coast
Pt. Washington Medical Clinic • CDI Head Start
Nonprofit Partnership Program
"The Network" Urgent Care Referral Program
On average, one out of every 5 children we see requires urgent care or restorative work that requires intervention by a dentist. The "Network" part of our name includes more than two dozen dental and health care providers in our community who commit to "just take two" urgent care cases in their offices. This allows us to provide pro-bono care to address urgent dental needs (pain and infection) in our children.
Big Smiles?
CVHN can always use the help and experience of dentists and health care providers in our community. Please share our mission with providers you might know, we would love to meet your favorite dentist!
