Community Health Worker job available at Ready, Set, Smile. Full job description and application info below:
CHW Job Description
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Author: Adele Della Torre
INVITATION:
CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS of ADT Dental’s non-profit organization READY, SET, SMILE and DR. DELLA TORRE ~
A Garden Reception
Presentation of the national DentaQuest Health Equity Hero Award
Sunday, September 26, 2021
3-4:30 p.m.
SW Minneapolis (details provided when you RSVP)
Sponsored by Elevate Oral Care
If you’d like to join us please contact bbrown@readysetsmile.org
The event will feature a brief award presentation at 3:45 p.m. We’ll have an interactive tour of Ready, Set, Smile’s services, including an on-site clinic and a classroom lesson.|
Don’t miss this special opportunity to “see” our work in the community and meet our staff including our dental therapist and community health workers, our Board if Directors and our new Operations Director Ann Copeland. Our guests will also learn more about how our program is reducing health disparity in our community.
Due to COVID concerns, masks are recommended and the event will be outside, physically distanced.
We’d love to see you!
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Thank You Elevate Oral Care!
THANK YOU Elevate Oral Care for sponsoring the DentaQuest Award celebration on Sunday, September 26, 2021 honoring the work of Dr. Della Torre and ADT’s non-profit organization, Ready, Set, Smile. Partnerships like these help to make our community stronger.
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Then and Now
Our “Leaders Extraordinaire,” caring for patients and going strong for more than 22 years! Thank you Dr. Ottavi and Dr. Della Torre.
With great appreciation, we are happy to share the 2020 Prospectus for Ready, Set, Smile, a Minnesota non-profit organization founded by ADT Dental.
Dr. Adele Della Torre was invited to write a newsletter article for The AARP Purpose Prize Alumni Newsletter:
Ready Set Smile is a community-based organization whose mission is to improve the oral health of children through school-based onsite dental services and classroom education. RSS partners with 27 Minneapolis schools (preschool through 8th grade) that serve high numbers of children without access to dental care.
Our work has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this health crisis has also given us clarity on the importance of our mission. The pandemic has amplified the racial inequities throughout our nation and my home city, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Further, the site of George Floyd’s killing is just blocks from Ready, Set, Smile’s office and so we are acutely aware of the heightened issues resulting from racial tensions in the community. We are pleased that Minneapolis has become an epicenter of a growing wave of racial justice awareness. I cannot help but connect the health disparities that our nonprofit fights with the hope that rises from our community’s actions to combat COVID and racial injustice.
Most people are unaware that dental decay is the most prevalent chronic childhood disease and is concentrated in children who lack access to preventive dental care. In fact, research shows that 80% of decay occurs in 15-20% of our children, almost all of whom live in poverty. Although children rarely die from dental infections, dental decay is one of the most common reasons for missing school and is therefore a disruptor of an afflicted child’s education. Our data confirms these facts, as 56% of the children seen in our schools have active decay at their first visit with us. Dental decay is a disease that is 100% preventable, but the systemic barriers to access dental care make good oral health difficult to achieve.
What does a school-based portable dental clinic do when schools are closed? We pivot.
● We are seeking alternative sites in institutions such as community centers, daycare centers, congregations, teen-parent programs and teen homeless shelters.
● A local orthodontist has loaned us his office to serve children on the two days each week it is not in use.
● We are piloting setting up our portable clinic in our current office space for the children in our immediate neighborhood.
● We are pursuing designation as a Telehealth provider in order to provide oral health education to families and schools.
● We will modify our traditional clinic schedules to accommodate school hybrid scheduling.
Although these alternatives require a dramatic shift from our school-based model, we believe that the spirit of our mission requires that we continue to bring dental care to children in locations where they feel comfortable. A child’s oral health is critical to their self-esteem, their ability to thrive and to have a future of good health. Each of us do what we do best to purposefully improve our world.
The pandemic has forced innovative solutions. We are an organization that heals our community. Our solutions to this health disparity are simple. Good oral health impacts a child’s ability to learn, to smile, to nourish and improves the future of their overall health. Focus on what you do best to purposefully improve the world.
With great appreciation, I present this fiscal year-end report on ADT Dental’s nonprofit,
Ready Set Smile.
Dr. Adele Della Torre
Mission: Ready Set Smile prepares and empowers all children to care for their oral health through onsite school-based clinics and education. We believe that with preventive services and a caring environment, all children can be free of dental disease.
2017-18 Fiscal Year Report
RSS has completed its fifth school year serving Minneapolis schools with low-resourced families, a population that faces many barriers to accessing routine dental care. In September 2017, we added 4 schools for a total of 9 elementary schools and 5 early childhood programs. All children who are registered for our services receive cleanings, atraumatic decay arresting procedures, fluoride treatments, sealants and one-on-one oral hygiene instruction. This summer we are adding 3 additional preschools and one Northside elementary school.
This last school year we treated 1219 children and provided classroom education to 2500 children and parents of preschoolers with modules on the science and lifestyle for good oral health. All were taught by our Community Health Workers (CHW).
Children diagnosed with urgent dental needs were referred to one of our partnering clinics. Our CHWs are critical to the successful response rate from our families. They are relevant to our families because they represent the Latino, Somali, Hmong and African American communities.
This year we have two new outstanding partners: Southside Community Health Services, a federally-funded medical and dental clinic, is providing us their Mobile Clinic at no cost. They were impressed with our outreach success and asked how we could collaborate. We have used their 2-dental operatory “RV” on several occasions. This upcoming school year, we will have access to their mobile unit as needed. Southside has invited us to collaborate on a grant for this upcoming year. They are also setting up one Saturday a month, starting in September, for Ready Set Smile registrants’ families to receive comprehensive dental care — with or without insurance!
The University of Minnesota – School of Dentistry (U of M-SOD) has chosen RSS as a community partner for a 2018 Health Disparities Grant and a Grand Challenge Grant. As the community organization, we provide the schools and services and U of M staff provides the rigorous academic evaluation to demonstrate that we are improving the oral health of children.
Bailee Jerger, a graduate student at the U of M-SOD, has taken on RSS as her Capstone Project. Over the next year she will be studying our financials and employees’ division of labor to assess the viability of a school-based dental program based on a detailed cost analysis.
Ready Set Smile will be featured on the website of a prestigious national organization, ASTDD (Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors). Dr. Della Torre submitted a description of our program at the request of the Minnesota Department of Health in December. We are now published on their website under Best Practice Approach Report – fluoride use in school programs. Our program’s practices is publicly available on a national forum as a best practice school-based program.
Incredibly, 35% of the children we serve are uninsured. Most of these children are immigrants to our country who do not understand our systems or fear government programs. Others do not understand that they must renew their child’s medicaid insurance and still others fall into the donut hole of earning too much for MNSure, but are unable to afford dental services. Our services are available to all families at no cost, so this is a heavy burden on our program. This year our CHWs were certified as insurance navigators to help families register or renew health and dental insurance for our families.
Finally, over our first four years we have reduced the incidence of decay by 25% and reduced the number of children with active decay by 30%. Between this school year and last, we reduced the number of children with urgent needs (abscessed teeth, reported pain, or severe decay) by 7%. We will receive our 5th school year’s data analysis in the fall.
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Our Dental Hy-gentle-ists
In October, we celebrate Dental Hygiene month to remind us that good health starts with a clean and disease free mouth. This blog is a tribute to the 6 dental hy-gentle-ists of ADT Dental. I’m choosing to add one little syllable into hygienist because it gives a full description of the dental hygienists who we are so proud to have on our team. Gentle….Their clinical skill in maintaining your oral health is gentle and their treatment of your spirit, ego and self-esteem is gentle. They understand that you need to be encouraged and supported to maintain your oral health.
Kate The Great, as she is called by ADT staff, has been with us the longest….over 20 years. She is so genuine, kind and caring. Kate is an admired leader among our staff and a blessing to her patients. These are among many reasons we call her Kate The Great.
Michelle is only a few years behind Kate, with 16 years at ADT Dental. She came to us from dental hygiene school where she was the recipient of the Golden Scaler Award. Her awesome skills have turned around many difficult periodontal patients in their oral health. With Michelle, conversations start right where they ended the last visit.
Petite Judy has been with us for 12 years. She is so sincere and caring with her patients and staff. Judy is a true friend to all. She is a guaranteed stickler on detail, she has got her patients covered. A long list of dedicated patients follow serene and gentle Judy.
Ashley is one of our next generation dental hygienists. She has been with us just under 5 years. A young mother of two toddlers, Ashley has the warm serenity to carefully listen to her patients’ needs. Her approach to each patient is always thorough and consistent. Ashley also has a volunteer career as an advocate for a cure for Muscular Dystrophy, a disease which inflicts her 3 year old son.
Phala has been with us for 3 years. She is a graduate of the U of M Dental Hygiene School where she developed her outstanding skills. Phala has a compassionate empathetic style with her patients. Phala just gave birth to her third daughter. We look forward to her return from maternity leave.
Last, but not least, is Elle, a staff member of one year. Elle is actually named Michelle, but with too many Michelle’s on staff, we’ve nicknamed her Elle. Elle has the enthusiastic spirit of a young hygienist. She is so smart and gifted that in one short year she has become a valued member of our staff. We are so lucky to have her on our team.
ADT Dental Dental Hy-gentle-ists, you have been with us from one to twenty-one years. You are the main attractions that our patients return to see. We are blessed. Thank you! Thank you!
To understand the significance of the work of Ready Set Smile, please consider reading the compelling book, TEETH, written by the Washington Post reporter Mary Otto. The book engagingly lays out the state of inequality in our oral health care system, and the painful reality that so many poor Americans cannot access dental services.
In 2007, Mary Otto was inspired to write this book after reporting on the death of a 12 year old boy, Deamonte Driver. As his mother desperately sought the care of a dentist, Deamonte’s infected tooth worsened. By the time care was accessed, it was too late. Deamonte was hospitalized with a brain abscess. He laid in a coma for weeks before passing away. Otto spent the next 10 years researching the how and why the oral health delivery system reached this tragic state of affairs.
Oral disease is an epidemic that is 100% preventable with good diet, good home care, AND access to preventive services such as sealants and fluoride varnish. Only a third of dentists in our country are willing to serve children on Medicaid. Reimbursement does not cover the cost of service. But it’s not that simple. Multiple barriers are entrenched into our society and history related to physiology, policy, and politics.
The book is skillfully researched and written. As a dentist, it has helped me to reflect on my own career and reinforce my passion to advance Ready Set Smile. I see the story of Ready Set Smile written in the pages of this book. Ready Set Smile gives the most impoverished children and families in Minneapolis the opportunity to access services in schools and educates on raising children to be free of dental decay.
Mary Otto will be speaking at the Delta Dental of Minnesota Symposium
November 3, 2017 -8:00 am – 1 pm
Radisson Blu Mall of America
2100 Killebrew Dr.
Bloomington, MN
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Should You Floss Your Teeth?
If you search online, you would find that daily flossing is one of the key activities to increase your life expectancy. Yes, flossing! In fact according to the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator daily flossing gives you 6 additional years. Then why did the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services quietly drop flossing from the latest dietary guidelines for Americans? Their reasoning: lack of reliable scientific evidence.
As a dentist since 1981, I can assure you that I have seen the clinical evidence of the importance of this daily routine in practice. But let’s take a step back and answer a few questions.
First, is there any sound scientific data that flossing increases life expectancy?
A longitudinal clinical study to show direct causation between flossing and life expectancy has never been done. Who would do it and at what expense? But I bet folks who floss daily have lifestyles where they are able to care for themselves holistically. They understand to eat well, exercise, get adequate sleep, and don’t smoke. They see their health care team regularly, including their dentist who reminds them to floss. There is likely an indirect correlation between flossing and longevity.
How damaging is chronic inflammation to the body?
Inflammation is your body’s protective mechanism to heal wounds and fight disease. It’s necessary to keep you healthy. But chronic inflammation, which is inflammation out of control that goes on for months or years, is associated with many disease processes. Here’s a fact: Chronic inflammation is not healthy for you.
Periodontal disease is chronic inflammation. Your gum tissues are responding to the presence of plaque which it perceives as an irritant and it is trying to protect itself. This creates an oral cavity with chronic inflammation. Gums bleed and swell, and bone melt away from the irritants of plaque and calculous, leaving the teeth unsupported. Flossing removes the plaque the toothbrush cannot reach. Reducing this inflammation in your mouth by removing as much plaque as possible, stops the progression of this disease and prevents chronic inflammation.
Does reducing the inflammation of periodontal disease help your overall health?
The only disease where there is definitive clinical evidence in, is diabetes. Diabetics who control their periodontal disease improve their A1C levels. There has been research on other diseases, most notably, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, and low birthrate babies born to mothers with gum disease. This data have been mixed, at best, on a direct correlation. But inflammation in your body should be kept to a minimum and no one wants periodontal disease, so flossing will help.
Does flossing help prevent decay?
This is a more difficult question because of less scientific evidence. In areas of food impaction, regular flossing to remove the presence of food is critical to prevent decay. And where there is recession resulting in exposed roots, it helps to keep roots free of plaque to prevent decay. No clinical studies are necessary to demonstrate this, because we see it every day. But in the healthy dentition, without periodontal disease, there are no studies that show that flossing directly prevents the cavities between the teeth. But it makes empirical sense as a healthy activity.
How important is being an effective flosser?
Well here is the rub. Flossing takes dexterity and practice. Just snapping the floss between your teeth in quick succession is fruitless. After you snap through where the teeth touch, you must gently wrap the floss around each tooth on either side of the floss. Gently shimmy the floss down as far as it will go below the gum, rubbing the teeth with the floss. The white stuff that you find on the floss, is a colony of bacteria you have just disrupted. As soon as you’re done, they’ll start their process of rebuilding. That’s why daily is important. And by the way, the most pathogenic ones need sugar, so starve them by cutting back on sugar.
So, should you floss?
Yes, in our humble opinion the Feds got this wrong. We’re so proud of the patients of ADT Dental, because many of you have showed up after hearing this news with the strong conviction that this health update was just plain silly.
And we agree.