Lasting Impressions | Fall 2016

4 © NSU LASTING IMPRESSIONS oral health evaluations and apply the uoride varnish? In that stroke of inspiration, NSU’s mission of dental mercy multiplied from 9 North Miami schools to all 145 Miami-Dade schools—elementary, middle, and high. Mascarenhas collaborated with Lawrence to write the initial grant proposal, which resulted in a $129,000 grant from the Health Foundation of South Florida. Since then, additional funding was provided by e Children’s Trust. is year, 191 professionals have been trained to evaluate, counsel, and apply uoride varnish, and the dental care has expanded from serving hundreds to serving thousands. Mascarenhas cites three key evidence-based elements for improved dental care: water uoridation, tobacco cessation, and proper care of pits and ssures in teeth by using sealants. e pits and ssures in a tooth’s biting surface can be e ectively protected by the sealants, applied in a thin resin. e sooner a child is seen by the nurse, the sooner there can be a referral to a dentist if the child has a dental problem. But, if there are no cavities, the nurses themselves can apply the varnishes, which are made from a thin uoride resin. “ e earlier you can start, the more dental prob- lems you can prevent,” said Mascar- enhas. “By second grade, children have all of their rst molars and the rst permanent teeth appear. By sixth grade, they pretty much have all their permanent teeth.” One of the original elementary schools served is Greynolds Park Elementary in North Miami Beach. “Most of our students come from families of limited income or single- parent homes,” said Jorge Mazon, who serves as the school’s principal. “ e NSU dentists perform a wonderful service. ey provide all our students with preventive dental care they would not be able to get otherwise.” Mazon calls Mascarenhas “very caring and charitable” and praises the NSU dentists who visit. “ ey do a wonderful job of relating to kids, who are only seven or eight years old,” he said. “ ey make the students feel comfortable and leave with a smile.” In addition to being one of the program’s grant writers, Mascarenhas, who came to NSU in 2010 from Boston University’s Goldman School of Den- tal Medicine, is the CDM’s associate dean of research. She relocated to the United States from India a er earning her B.D.S. degree from Goa Medical College and Hospital and earning M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. degrees at the University of Michigan. She subsequently held posts at Ohio State University and the Forsyth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. ere is another important objective in this e ort, and similar ones across the country, relating to how proper dental health can a ect academic achievement. Mascarenhas cites studies showing that time lost in school because of oral problems can add up. And school days lost means time not spent in learning. One study estimated that “more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness,” she said. “ is is not new data, because we have known this from the early 1990s.” Another study shows that in children ages 5 to 17, cavities are ve times more prevalent than the next most common childhood ailment— asthma. If that’s not enough, ponder this stunning gure about a child’s dental health: Poor children su er nearly 12 times more restricted activ- ity days than children from higher- income families. Ana Karina Mascarenhas’ collaborations resulted in Smiles Across Miami with CDM professionals conducting prevention programs in Miami-Dade schools.