1998 Minnesota Statutes

     145.46 Dental health education program. 

    Subdivision 1.    Development of program.  The 
 commissioner of health shall assist school and community 
 personnel, including dental professionals, to develop a 
 comprehensive preventive oral health program in the elementary 
 school community. 

    Subd. 2.    Objectives.  The program shall be operated 
 so as to achieve the following: 

    (a) Decreasing oral disease through an instruction program 
 or oral health education for teachers; 

    (b) Improving oral health knowledge, attitudes, and 
 behavior of both the student and the wider school community, 
 including educators, administrators, and parents; and 

    (c) Planning a sequential oral health education curriculum 
 emphasizing behavior modification for the total health education 
 program of a school system. 

    Subd. 3.    Duties of commissioner of health.  (a) 
 Technical assistance teams; in-service training of educators. 
 The commissioner of health shall establish technical assistance 
 teams of dental hygienists, consulting dentists, and consulting 
 health educators.  The initial program will place one team in 
 four state health regions and reflecting rural, suburban, and 
 urban communities.  The teams shall provide in-service education 
 to teachers in the district on methods and techniques of dental 
 behavior change. 

    (b) Guidelines for implementation in schools.  The 
 commissioner of health shall provide guidelines to selected 
 schools for the implementation of their programs to train 
 classroom teachers to be dental health educators.  The teachers 
 shall participate in oral health education, analysis, and 
 recording of data. 

    (c) Standards; evaluation.  The commissioner of health 
 shall establish standards for program performance.  These 
 standards, together with accepted dental indices, shall be used 
 by the technical assistance teams to evaluate school programs of 
 oral health knowledge and behavior modification on test and 
 control groups. 

    (d) Consultation to dental personnel.  The commissioner of 
 health shall provide information and assistance to dental 
 personnel on methods and techniques of oral health behavior 
 improvement. 

    HIST: 1975 c 434 s 25; 1977 c 305 s 45