For the past 37 years, Head Start has made oral health a priority for its children. It is not only stressed, it is mandated that every child receive a professional examination, and all necessary preventive and follow-up treatment, before they leave the program. If the child is not covered by Medicaid or private insurance, Head Start pays the bill, regardless of cost.
At present, 850,000 low-income children receive dental treatment in the name of Head Start each and every year. All Head Start children also are required to brush their teeth every day in the classroom, and their parents are taught the importance of good oral health. There is no other federal, state or local program that has embraced dentistry for children as Head Start has.
All of this is about to end. President Bush’s budget, which was submitted to Congress earlier this year, proposes to dismantle Head Start by transferring it to the U.S. Department of Education, and farming it out to the individual states. Once this has occurred, there will be no more Head Start dental health program.
Dentistry will be the first service that the states drop, because it is too expensive and time-consuming to make sure that 850,000 children receive dental care. This prediction is easily confirmed by examining the number of school programs in the country that provide comprehensive dental services for their children.
For once, government has given children’s oral and general health the status it deserves. Now it is ready to take it away. Head Start also provides medical health care and nutrition for these children. Once this has been transferred to the Department of Education, it will become nothing more than a day-care program, and that is unacceptable to those of us who care about these children and America’s future.
