Dental School Volunteers Add Adult Screenings to Expo Health Fair

Adults attending this summer’s Indiana Black Expo were able to have their own dental health assessed in addition to their youngsters’, thanks to a new screening program conducted by volunteers from the IU School of Dentistry at IUPUI working in tandem with the Indiana State Department of Health and the Marion County Health Department.

The dental screening program was one of a wide range of health screenings offered at the Indiana State Department of Health’s INShape Indiana Black and Minority Health Fair. The goal of the fair is to increase minority awareness of chronic diseases, including dental disease, and to impart information about disease prevention.

While dental screenings for children conducted by dental school faculty, staff, and students have previously been a component of Black Expo and were offered once again in 2009, this was the first time in recent history that one group of the school’s volunteers focused on the dental health of adults.

A number of Black Expo participants – 342 adults in all – took advantage of the free dental screenings.

“We wanted to reach members of the community who may not be receiving oral health care information and services from other sources,” says Traci Adams-Wilson, coordinator of the adult dental screenings program and head of the dental school’s diversity support services.

The dental school volunteers along with the Marion County Health Department/Health and Hospital Corp. offered free dental screenings July 16-19. The county health department’s dental director is Dr. Tonya Stewart, who also serves as a part-time professor in the School of Dentistry’s Restorative Dentistry department.

In addition to the results of their screenings, fair goers received information about the dental school’s clinics and other central Indiana facilities where lower cost dental care is available.

While some members of the dental team conducted the screenings, others were engaged in a student recruitment drive, drawing the attention of persons interested in looking at dentistry as a possible career opportunity.

Children were screened by another group of volunteers through the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program, which also ran for four days. Many of these volunteers are members of the dental school’s Kids Club, a group of students who donate their time to wellness activities for youngsters in the community. Their contributions to the Colgate program were coordinated by pediatric dentistry Professor Melinda Meadows.

“We provided an important service to the fair goers,” says Adams-Wilson. “It was also a great opportunity to introduce a lot of community members to the School of Dentistry, to let them know who we are and what we can do for them.”