{"id":213552,"date":"2025-04-08T15:15:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T01:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=213552"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:07:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T02:07:26","slug":"molokai-dental-sealant-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/08\/molokai-dental-sealant-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Moloka\u02bbi students receive no-cost dental services at school"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"student
A dental hygienist examines a student\u02bbs teeth at Kualapuʻu<\/span> Charter School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the first time, the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn Program<\/a>\u2014 a partnership between the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene<\/a> and the State Department of Education\u2014offered free dental services to Molokaʻi<\/span> students through its Dental Sealant Events.<\/p>\n

\"Molokai
About 110 Molokaʻi<\/span> students were seen during the Dental Sealant Events on April 8.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On April 8, a team of 9 Oʻahu<\/span>– and Maui-based dentists, dental hygienists, assistants and nurses traveled to Maunaloa Elementary, Kilohana Elementary, Kaunakakai Elementary and Kualapuʻu<\/span> Charter School to host Dental Sealant Events. Three Molokaʻi<\/span>-based Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki health technicians provided additional on-the-ground support.<\/p>\n

About 110 students were seen, receiving dental screenings, oral health education, hygiene kits and, where needed, dental sealants, a protective treatment that helps prevent cavities.<\/p>\n

Addressing Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s oral health issues<\/h2>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> faces significant oral health challenges. The 2015 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Smiles report found that Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s children had the highest rate of dental decay in the country, and more than 60% lacked sealants on their permanent molars\u2014increasing their risk for cavities, missed school, and other health and self-esteem issues.<\/p>\n

To combat these disparities, the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki\u2013Dental Service (HDS<\/abbr>) Dental Sealant Program was launched in 2019 through a partnership between Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki and the HDS<\/abbr> Foundation. Since launching on Oʻahu<\/span> in 2020, the program has expanded to Maui, Kauaʻi<\/span> and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island\u2014and now to Molokaʻi<\/span>. Maui and Molokaʻi<\/span> school-based dental services are provided in partnership with Hui No Ke Ola Pono, a Maui Native Hawaiian Health Care System.<\/p>\n

Commitment to rural underserved communities<\/h2>\n

\"student<\/p>\n

So far, more than 5,500 keiki across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> have received screenings through the program. More than 60% received sealants, protecting more than 12,000 teeth. In addition, more than 220 keiki with urgent dental needs were referred for further care.<\/p>\n

Deborah Mattheus, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki Senior Practice Director and Dental Sealant Program director, said “Hosting the screenings and sealants at school has proven to be an efficient way to provide healthcare to many students at once, reduce the time and money spent by individual families, and minimize the loss of class time. Today\u2019s event is a great example of many partners coming together to provide important dental services to these Molokaʻi<\/span> kids.”<\/p>\n

Compassionate team of UH<\/abbr> alumni, student providers<\/h2>\n

The Molokaʻi<\/span> team was composed of licensed providers and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki staff, many of whom are UH<\/abbr> alumni or current students from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, UH<\/abbr> Maui College and the Maui-Molokaʻi<\/span> CNA<\/abbr> programs.<\/p>\n

This latest effort was made possible by continued support from the HDS<\/abbr> Foundation, along with in-kind donations from Kamaka Air Cargo, which transported dental equipment, and Maverick Helicopters, which offered discounted staff flights. The Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Department of Health\u2019s Family Health Division also helped fund dental supplies.<\/p>\n

Read more on the SONDH<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 110 students received free dental services through the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Keiki: Healthy & Ready to Learn Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,223,1466,189,167,9],"class_list":["post-213552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-alumni","tag-dental-hygiene","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-nursing","tag-school-of-nursing-and-dental-hygiene","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213552"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213622,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213552\/revisions\/213622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}