Oral Health Coalition to grow adult services, sets fundraising as focus

A dental-health arm of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department plans to extend oral health services to adults, including the elderly, thanks in part to United Way funding and an increased emphasis on fundraising.

Health department dental coordinator Dotty Gholson said she is responsible for managing all the dental screenings at schools within Cape Girardeau County. The organization is partnered with Missouri’s Preventive Services Program (PSP).

Oral Health Coalition of Southeast Missouri was formed around 2005, she said, with the goal of improving the dental health of children and seniors in the community. And that’s what the funding from the United Way will be used to extend.

“This week is always a very busy week,” she said Wednesday, listing multiple school visits within two days. “We have a coalition organization of about five or six members; we’re hoping to increase that.”

Gholson said she is “very glad” money will be available again for the community.

She said Missouri has lower dental visit rates and more tooth loss among adults than observed nationally, and oral cancer rates also are higher. And those living in skilled nursing facilities were also less likely to have visited a dentist in the last year, she said.

Gholson said a 2009 assessment of oral health among older Missourians revealed a greater proportion of skilled nursing residents had more untreated tooth decay, severe periodontal disease and missing teeth than was observed for older Missourians living independently.

So the goal is to help more adults, she said, which includes the “barrier” of coordinating transportation to and from treatments.

Elizabeth Shelton, executive director of the Cape Girardeau-based United Way of Southeast Missouri, said all of its partners who deal with people in need frequently get requests for dental help, or it’s “something that comes up later.”

“It’s not the thing they’re seeking help for, but then they realize that this person really has some dental issues,” she said. “People who get regular dental care take that for granted and don’t always think about the many other health problems that dental disease can contribute to.”

Shelton said that was one of the reasons United Way of Southeast Missouri’s community investment committee was encouraged to help fund the Oral Health Coalition of Southeast Missouri.

United Way of Southeast Missouri serves residents in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and northern Scott counties through health, education and financial stability services.