Anthem Joins IU Dental School’s Efforts to Promote Oral Health for Children Statewide

Dr. Yoder, on the right, accepts Anthem Foundation grant of $150,000 to help support preventive dental care for children in need from Vicki Perkins, of the Anthem Foundation's Corporate Community Relations division.

INDIANAPOLIS – A recent gift from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is helping the IU School of Dentistry pursue its mission of promoting oral health for Indiana’s children, with a goal of reducing disparities in access to dental care.

The Anthem Foundation has given the dental school a grant of $150,000 to help support preventive dental care for children in need. Such care is provided through the school’s statewide mobile SEAL INDIANA program, a collaborative, year-round venture of the school and the Indiana State Department of Health.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana is a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc.

Since March 2003, SEAL INDIANA’S 40-foot Seal Mobile, equipped with two stationery dental chairs and four portable chairs, has been rolling into towns, cities, and rural areas throughout the state to reach low-income children who do not have access to a dentist. Depending on their needs, youngsters can receive dental examinations and/or preventive care in the form of dental sealants, which cover the teeth with a protective coating to help prevent decay.

Care is given primarily by the dental school’s students, under the supervision of IU faculty. The Sealant Program creates a service-learning environment where students are directly exposed to issues and challenges pertinent to community oral health. In 2004, the IU dental school’s SEAL INDIANA was among six projects featured in a nationally televised PBS documentary about service learning in higher education.

According to Dr. Karen Yoder, the dental school’s Community Dentistry director, in 2005 the Seal Mobile visited 146 Indiana schools, community health centers, and Head Start programs. The on-board caregivers examined more than 3,000 children and placed nearly 4,500 protective sealants.

“This is an innovative solution to improving access to health care, a key mission for our company, and one of the ways we support organizations who share that goal,” said Dennis Casey, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Indiana.

Dr. Yoder says that another goal of the program is to work with Hoosier dentists to identify local clinics or private practices that can provide restorative dental services and continuity of care to children who are found by SEAL INDIANA to be in need.

“We are extremely grateful to Anthem Foundation for helping the IU School of Dentistry take dental services to impoverished children,” said Dr. Yoder. “It also enables us to foster dental graduates who have a greater understanding of disparities in access to care and who will be responsive to the needs in the communities where they will practice.”