TOPS provides comprehensive parent education and early childhood dental prevention services in an effort to eliminate the occurrence of tooth decay in traditionally under-served preschool children.
Contact (303) 996-4811 or tops.beth@gmail.com for more information.
Population Served
- Our target population includes children between the ages of 0 to 5 years of age and their siblings.
- Our initial target community includes the neighborhoods of Cole, Clayton, North City Park, Whittier and Globeville. If you reside in one of these neighborhoods and have a child between the ages of 0 to 5 years of age, please download a sign-up for today.
Goals
- Engage at least 100 parents in culturally sensitive oral health prevention classes each year and empower them to make behavioral changes in their oral health practices in the home.
- Provide dental screenings, cleanings and fluoride varnish treatments to at least 100 children each year.
- Develop a new generation of children entering elementary school cavity free.
- Create a community based dental facility that will serve as the dental home for children in our target neighborhoods.
Accomplishments
- Awarded a 5-year grant by The Colorado Trust Equality in Health Initiative to develop cultural competency within the organization and decrease racial and ethnic oral health disparities.
- Granted funding by the Colorado Health Foundation to hire a Dental Hygienist to conduct parent classes and offer chair side dental prevention services to families.
Activities
- Partner with community based organizations throughout the target neighborhoods to develop outreach strategies to reach clients in need of dental services.
- Develop a volunteer program targeting dentists and dental hygienists throughout the community to offer follow up services to those clients in need.
- Evaluate participant’s knowledge and behavioral changes regarding oral health care for their families.
Background
Dental cavities in young children are TOTALLY preventable (dental studies and literature confirm this). Dental Access Center's new TOPS is an innovative new program designed to cut-off the supply of decay in the first place.
In recent years, dental data indicate that up to sixty percent of the poorest children entering first grade have already experienced dental decay, often accompanied by dental pain. TOPS intends to employ the combined effects of educating parents, sound oral hygiene practices, fluoride applications and other measures to avoid the transmission of dental cavity-causing bacteria from mother to child.
The TOPS program will treat approx. 300 newborns born each year in the four neighborhoods surrounding his dental practice from birth to the age of 5. Successful outcomes will help children avoid dental problems before they occur. Fewer dental problems translates into less dental need and demand for dental treatment, a reduction that (for such children) impacts dental manpower needs and access to care issues.
Under grants from The Colorado Trust and the Colorado Health Foundation, his plan is to try to keep children completely caries-free over a five-year period. Early treatment is planned for those few who do experience tooth decay.
As the population of underserved children grows there is a corresponding increase in the magnitude of untreated oral health problems and their side effects. Unless there is a corresponding miraculous increase in the utilization of dental treatment services by these kids, their well being will be more compromised than ever before. You may have heard the expression, "when you find yourself in a hole that keeps growing, STOP DIGGING!" The "TOPS" way of stopping the dig is to cut off the supply of new tooth decay.
