By Karen Gutierrez
Enquirer staff writer

QUALIFYING SCHOOLS

Children at the following schools will have a chance to receive free dental sealants. The schools were selected because at least 40 percent of their students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. A.D. Owens Elementary Arnett Elementary Beech Grove Elementary Collins Elementary Crittenden-Mount Zion Elementary Dry Ridge Elementary Fourth Street Elementary Florence Elementary John G. Carlisle Elementary Glenn O. Swing Elementary Grant County Middle School Highland Heights Elementary Howell Latonia Elementary Lindeman Elementary Ludlow Elementary Ludlow Middle School Mason Corinth Elementary Mildred Dean Elementary Ninth District Elementary Ryland Heights Elementary Silver Grove Elementary Sixth District Elementary

Second- and sixth-graders at 23 schools in Northern Kentucky will be offered free dental sealants this year to help protect their teeth from decay.

The program was so successful last year, when four schools participated, that it has been expanded by the Northern Kentucky Health Department. It hopes to reach 1,500 students this year, compared to 320 last year.

Students whose parents give permission will be screened at their schools. Those who could benefit from sealants - thin plastic coatings applied to molars or back teeth - will receive them from dental hygienists temporarily based at the schools.

Those with decay will be referred to dentists for treatment.

Seven dentists have volunteered their time to the project, which is funded by local and state health funds, including Medicaid.

The dentists are Tom Goeke, Michelle Beck, John Lenihan, Ken Rich, Mark Glockner, Russ Damron and Guadalupe Rojas-Krol.

"It was wonderful," said Gregg Frank, principal of A.D. Owens Elementary School in Newport, which was one of the four pilot schools last year. "We had a huge response."

Nearly 90 percent of Owens' second- and third-graders were screened. Of those 134, there were 109 who received sealants. Those who did not either had decay that was too advanced or had already received sealants from their own dentists, school officials said.

Staff members of the school's family resource center made sure every family was contacted.

"If we did not get a response, we went to the home and knocked on the door," Frank said. "I just didn't want anyone to miss it."

Kentucky has a high rate of dental neglect. A 2002 survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 42 percent of Kentuckians 65 and older had lost all their natural teeth.

The University of Kentucky recently found that 57 percent of third- and sixth- grade students had fillings or tooth decay, and that 31 percent needed treatment.

For information, call (859) 578-7660 or visit http://www.nkyhealth.org.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com