Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has awarded $1.8 million to six nonprofit organizations as part of its new Smiles Across Greater MO funding opportunity. These grants will provide dental sealants for an estimated 10,420 underserved Missouri children.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease of children, ages 5-17, in the United
States – four times more common than asthma. Tooth decay also occurs more frequently and is more severe among low-income, minority, uninsured and underinsured children.
Smiles Across Greater MO, one of four Priority Area Grant (PAG) funding opportunities from MFH in 2006, is an effort to improve the oral health of Missouri’s children. Funded programs all focus on prevention education and the application of sealants in order to decrease the number of children dealing with the effects of untreated tooth decay. These effects can include severe pain, decreased school performance and absenteeism, impaired speech development, and costly restorative treatments later in life.
Those organizations receiving the four-year dental sealant grants include Family Health Care Centers, St. Louis, $268,460. The organization’s “Chasing Away Decay” program provides sealants for 1,400 students in Catholic elementary schools in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jefferson County over the four-year period.
.Established in 2000 through the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state. The Foundation is in its fourth year of grantmaking, issuing more than $167 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.