Teeny Teeth Program Offers Tiny Tots Access to Oral Health Care
9/26/2007

Free screenings in Pasadena coincide with leaders in Washington deciding the fate of children’s healthcare program.
By Angelica Urquijo

“Open wide”—it was a phrase used over and over and over by USC Dental Students helping out with free screenings in Pasadena as part of the “Teeny Teeth Program”.  But what students found inside those “open wide” mouths was not good.  For the group of third year DDS students, it was another eye-opening reminder of the “silent and neglected” epidemic raging through our communities and affecting even the tiniest of mouths.  Children as young as three years old were already experience serious dental decay.

For most of these children, it was their first visit to a dentist; the common denominator—lack of health or dental insurance.  Ken Hussey, one of the DDS students providing these children with their first oral exam, tried to keep the smiles coming as he greeted the children and their parents.  “Many of these parents came here because they were aware there was something not right and their child needed to see a dentist—the problem is these families don’t have dental insurance so seeing a dentist wasn’t an option especially when they are striving to make ends meet at home.”

Jacqueline Lopez, like many other mothers, took several buses to bring her two children to the free screenings because she knew her little boy needed help.  As she put it, “This was a God send.  I didn’t know what to do, seeing him suffer and being unable to eat—but we don’t have insurance and we don’t have the money to see a dentist.”  8 year old Jonathan was experiencing serious tooth pain as a result of a mouth full of caries.

The greatest obstacle to health care services in Pasadena is not availability, but affordability and accessibility.  Nearly a third of the children living in Pasadena have no form of health insurance, including access to Medi-Cal.  Many of the families in Pasadena reflect the demographic that would be eligible for health and dental care as part of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)—the same program that is now at risk of losing funds. 

“The threat of a veto profoundly compromises California’s poorest children, the most vulnerable group in our communities.” says Dean Harold Slavkin.  About 91percent of the children who are insured by SCHIP are in families with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level of $41,300 for a family of four in 2007.

The free screenings were offered to children up to the age of 5 as part of the USC School of Dentistry’s Community Health Program.  “Teeny Teeth,” a cooperative effort between the Pasadena based non-profit Young and Healthy in conjunction with the Pasadena Community Health Center, provides low-income families with the resources to get their dental needs met.

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