As the Community Oral Health instructor in a dental hygiene educational program, you are approached by the director of a local Head Start program in your community regarding collaboration on student community oral health projects. This is a combined Head Start and Early Head Start program. The community water supply in your area has a natural fluoride level of 0.9 mg of fluoride per liter of water.
-Which of the following community fluoride programs has the highest priority to implement in this program?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Fluoride varnish programs are more effective than fluoride rinse and supplement programs and can be implemented easily in elementary schools, Head Start and similar preschool programs, and early Head Start programs that serve children who are at high risk for dental caries. School-based fluoride mouthrinse and supplement programs require greater involvement and cooperation of school personnel. Non-school-based programs introduce the problems of access and lack of compliance. Because of these factors and because of the greater availability of water fluoridation, these programs are less common in the United States, and fluoride varnish programs have become more popular. Fluoride varnish programs are critical in nonfluoridated communities, but they have value also in fluoridated communities for populations such as this one, in which individuals are at high risk for dental caries. When the community water supply is fluoridated, a fluoride varnish programs adds a topical program to further decrease the incidence of dental caries, taking advantage of the greater benefit that comes from combining fluoride programs. In this case, a fluoride supplement program is also not indicated because combining two systemic programs (water with optimal fluoride content and fluoride supplements) will provide too much systemic fluoride and increase the risk of fluorosis in this age group. Because fluoridated toothpaste is so readily available to the population, its distribution is not a cost-effective way to spend funds allocated for community oral health programs. If donated by manufacturers, there can be value in its distribution to reinforce the need to use fluoridated toothpaste and the value of using ADA-approved products.

As the Community Oral Health Instructor in a Dental Hygiene