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Fast Facts:

California’s children have twice as much untreated decay as their national counterparts.

Only 10% of California’s 8-year olds get sealants for their first permanent molars.

Only 30% of Californians currently receive the benefits of fluoridated water.

Kern County Children’s Dental Health Network
1800 30th Street, Ste. #230
Bakersfield, CA 93301
Tel: 661.377.0322 or 661.377.0323
Fax: 661.377.0329

KCCDHN
Kern County Children's Dental Health Network

Providing children's dental services at school

The Kern County Children’s Dental Health Network (KCCDHN) began providing dental services for Kern County children in December, 2000. The program was developed as a partnership between the Kern County Superintendent of Schools and West Kern Community College District (Taft College Dental Hygiene Program). The program is funded by First 5-Kern (Proposition 10). The primary goal of the mobile school-based dental program is to decrease the amount of decay in children, 1-5 years of age by improving access to dental services.

The dental services are provided by a cadre of KCCDHN staff including Stacy Eastman, DDS, 5 local pediatric dentists, Daniel Launspach, DDS; Daniel Purdy DMD; Edward Dove, DDS PC; Robert Bang DDS; and Kurt W. Sturz, DMD MS; 4 Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice; and 25 second-year dental hygiene students from Taft College Dental Hygiene Program.

The dental hygiene students provide the preventive services at a school site, under the direction of Stacy Eastman DDS. Their services include oral health education, an oral screening, a plaque index, a prophylaxis, application of fluoride, and sealants, if age appropriate. Children who are identified as needing further treatment are then given the opportunity to be treated by one of the local subcontracted pediatric dentists, Dr. Launspach DDS, Dr. Purdy DDS, Dr. Dove DDS or Dr. Bang DDS in their respective offices. There are no fees for any of the dental services provided.

November News Bite:  Ankyloglossia, AKA Tongue-Tie Ankyloglossia, more commonly called tongue-tie, is a fairly common abnormality that occurs at about 4-5% in newborns, and is 3 times more common in boys than girls.  Usually, it is detected soon after birth. If you ask your child (or any person) to elevate their tongue (lift their tongue up to the roof of the mouth), you will see a fold of tissue in the middle portion of the tongue that extends from the tip of the tongue to the floor of the mouth.  This fold of tissue is called a frenum or frenulum.   A frenum or frenulum connects a moveable part of the body to a fixed part of the body.  Normally, the lingual (for tongue) frenum helps to stabilize the base of the tongue without interfering with the movement of the tongue. However, depending on how short the frenum is, it can cause virtual adhesion of the tongue to the floor of the mouth, restricting movement .  The degree that the tongue is restricted depends upon how short the lingual frenum is.  Tonue-tie is caused by a partial or total fusion of the tongue to the floor of the mouth when the baby is developing before birth.  Usually, if there is a tongue-tie, the child is unable to touch the roof of the mouth with the tongue tip when the mouth is open.  Also, if the child attempts to stick his or her tongue out, the tongue tip becomes notched in the midline which looks like a heart shaped edge. (For some good pictures, click on:   http://children.webmd.com/tc/tongue-tie-topic-overview or http://www.ghorayeb.com/TongueTie.html, [more graphic]). Read More