School-based Health Centers and COVID-19: Resources to Increase Oral Health Services

Background: School-based health centers (SBHC) offer health services to children who are primarily of low socioeconomic status. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown of schools, the capacity of school-based health centers to provide oral health services was decreased or discontinued completely. A grant was awarded by Delta Dental of Colorado to the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine via the Colorado Association for School-Based Health Care (CASBHC). The grant goals were to identify SBHCs that had either decreased or reduced oral health (OH) services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, understand their OH service goals upon post-pandemic reopening, and provide educational resources for staff, students, and families that increase student OH outcomes upon reopening.

Methods: A survey of Colorado’s 65 SBHC was conducted to understand their capacity to offer OH services and to evaluate readiness and commitment to project goals. Of the five SBHC that were selected, two were rural and one was without any dental services. Individual interviews were conducted to understand which OH services the SBHC wanted to offer upon reopening and determine the specific educational resources needed to ensure services were implemented successfully. After the interviews, a virtual convening with all five SBHC was conducted to discuss the results of the interviews, provide details and answer questions about the project, share the topics of the resources that would be created, and discuss how these resources could be accessed.

Results: The results of the individual SBHC interviews and the convening revealed the need for educational tools; videos and written materials created in English and in Spanish designed for a variety of audiences, including medical and dental providers, students, and families. The resources, developed by faculty and students at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, cover an array of OH topics, including how to treat common dental emergencies, children’s oral health, fluoride varnish application, and the importance of healthy food choices. The providers of the participating SBHC were asked to complete a pre-and post-survey of the content of the educational videos created, these results are forthcoming.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated problems of access to care that SBHCs strive to diminish. This project sought out the needs of five SBHC (both rural and urban) that were greatly affected by the pandemic. Educational resources were developed to help improve the OH of children and families, boost the confidence of providers, as well as help the SBHC to re-integrate and increase their OH services. These resources are for providers, students, and parents and can be utilized by all SBHCs.