THE Carevan served up smiles at a Wodonga school yesterday.
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A Sun Smiles pilot program run by the community care foundation is helping children at Wodonga West Primary School look after their pearly whites.
And grants for the program from The Albury Rotary Club ($10,000) and the Wrigley Company Foundation, with the Australian Dental Association Foundation ($6000) will allow the foundation to roll out the program to other schools.
Program manager Cathryn Carboon said the first program last year found 14 per cent of children required urgent dental care and 89 per cent had never received a fluoride varnish treatment.
“Many barriers prevent children getting good dental care, including things like the cost and finding a dentist,” Mrs Carboon said.
The project involves volunteer dental students from Charles Sturt University providing a fluoride varnish program at schools, dental screening and oral health education.
Mrs Carboon said fluoride varnish treatments twice a year have been shown to reduce decay up to 40 per cent.
The grants will help roll the program out to Glenroy Public and Wangaratta schools next year.
