PA-Led TOOTH Program Brings Oral Health Education to Texas Elementary Schools
Grant recipient and PA student Kelsey Berg and her classmates at the University of Texas Medical Branch are making a change with their Teaching Others Oral Treatments and Health (TOOTH) program. The program teaches children about why oral health is important to overall health as well as about brushing and flossing.
The program reached more than 130 children in 2015. Berg replicated the successful outreach event to include an additional 150 children at a local elementary school in February 2016 for Oral Health month.
To make the program’s expansion possible, Berg turned the event into an interprofessional outreach that included first and second year PA students, nursing students, and a respiratory therapy student, all from UTMB.
The success of the TOOTH program is catching; and Berg and her classmates have been invited to bring the program to a local senior center and a community health fair later this year.