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County Health Department Hosts Dental Health Fair
The Saint Louis County Department of Health is hosting a health fair on Thursday, Feb. 21 , to highlight its dental clinic and show support for National Children’s Dental Health Month. The health fair will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the new John C. Murphy Health Center at 6121 North Hanley Road in Berkeley.
The health fair will include oral hygiene regimens for infants and children, the benefits of dental sealants and fluoride varnish, nutrition information, safe sleep practices for babies, and information about shaken baby syndrome. There will also be attractions for adults such as blood pressure screenings, smoking cessation, and women’s health information.
“The health fair is an interactive educational event to promote not only good oral health in children, but also overall well-being and disease prevention,” said Dr. Nita Fowler Johnson, the chief of dental services for the department. “Good oral health is very important for a child’s overall health and is achieved through a partnership between parents, dentists, and other health professionals.”
Tooth decay remains the most common chronic disease of children and adolescents 6 to 19 years of age. It is four times more common than asthma among adolescents 14 to 17 years of age. It also affects 9 out of 10 adults over the age of 20.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if all children and adolescents received appropriate amounts of fluoride and dental sealant applications to susceptible tooth surfaces, most of their tooth decay could be prevented.
The John C. Murphy Health Center houses a new, state-of-the-art dental clinic with services focused primarily on meeting the needs of children and pregnant women; however, dental services are offered at all three health centers run by the Saint Louis County Department of Health. The other two are:
The North Central Community Health Center, located at 4000 Jennings Station Road in Pine Lawn (314-679-7800); and the South County Health Center, located at 4580 South Lindbergh Boulevard in Sunset Hills (314-615-0400).
For more information about the Saint Louis County Department of Health’s three dental clinics, visit: www.stlouisco.com/HealthandWellness/HealthCentersandMedicalServices
