Delta Dental of Michigan (Delta Dental) has given the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) a grant of $250,000 to launch Varnish! Michigan, a program that will provide applications of fluoride varnish on the teeth of up to 22,000 children enrolled in Early Head Start and Head Start programs around the state.

The goal of Varnish! Michigan is to provide early intervention to prevent or reduce dental disease among low-income children aged birth to five.  Varnish! Michigan is expected to reduce decay between 48 and 60 percent in this group of children.

Thomas J. Fleszar, president and chief executive officer of Delta Dental, said regular applications of fluoride varnish have proven to be one of the most effective measures to prevent or reduce dental decay. 
 
"Fluoride varnish is safe, simple to apply, and an ideal treatment to offer in community-based programs like Head Start," he said. "Our mission at Delta Dental is to improve oral health. I cannot think of a more appropriate initiative to support than Varnish! Michigan, which will help thousands of young children get off to a healthy start by preventing tooth decay."

"Many of these children in this group have little to no access to dental care, and the unfortunate result is that by the time they reach third grade, one in four Michigan children have untreated dental disease," said Janet Olszewski, MDCH Director. "We know that most dental disease can be prevented, and we are grateful to Delta Dental for stepping forward with this generous contribution to make sure at-risk children throughout the state get the protection they need."

According to the National Institutes of Health, tooth decay is the single most common chronic disease among children - five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever.  In Michigan, 20 percent of children bear 80 percent of the disease burden; these are the children with little to no access to dental care. Nearly one in 10 third grade children in the state have immediate dental care needs with signs or symptoms of pain, infection, or swelling.

MDCH will administer the program through the use of competitive grants, with priority given to Early Head Start programs because intervention at the youngest ages is considered most beneficial.

Grantees will be selected from non-profit agencies, local public health departments, and federally qualified health centers. Grants are expected to be awarded this summer. In addition to the fluoride treatment, the program will include caregiver oral health education and assistance to families in helping them find a dental home.

Delta Dental of Michigan, with its affiliates in Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee, is one of the largest dental plan administrators in the nation. In 2006, the enterprise paid out more than $1.7 billion for dental care for more than 6.2 million enrollees. Offices are located in Okemos, Farmington Hills, and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Nashville, Knoxville, and Memphis, Tennessee.