Section 25-21.5-102 - Legislative declaration(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:(a) Statewide, students miss seven million eight hundred thousand school hours each year due to oral pain. Nationwide, workers miss one hundred sixty-four million work hours each year due to dental issues.(a.5) Untreated dental decay in children adversely affects school performance and behavior and contributes to overall physical and mental health complications for affected children.(b) Untreated dental decay is the most common chronic disease of childhood, and more than half of children six years of age and older but under nine years of age have had a cavity in at least one of their primary teeth.(c) Children in low-income schools have twice as much untreated tooth decay and are twice as likely to have a history of cavities than children who are not in low-income schools.(c.3) Screening and prevention are essential to breaking the cycle of dental decay.(c.5) Improved dental screening and prevention could reduce treatment costs for families and state-financed programs like the "Colorado Medical Assistance Act", articles 4, 5, and 6 of title 25.5, and the "Children's Basic Health Plan Act", article 8 of title 25.5, which cover approximately one-third of Colorado kids.(d) Among children, ninety percent of dental decay is in the pits and fissures of posterior permanent teeth.(e) Children who have received dental sealants in a school-based program have, for a period of up to five years, sixty percent fewer new decayed pit and fissure surfaces in their posterior permanent teeth than children who have not received an application of dental sealants.(e.5) Improved oral health screening and prevention, with referral for treatment, would reduce chronic absenteeism and improve the health and well-being of and learning outcomes for Colorado children.(f) Fluoride is nature's cavity fighter. Fluoride occurs naturally in almost all water sources. Since 1948, scientific research has shown that community water fluoridation can reduce the incidence of dental cavities.(g) Community water fluoridation is the process of adjusting the level of fluoride found naturally in water to a level recommended to protect against dental decay. The centers for disease control named community water fluoridation as one of ten great public health achievements of the twentieth century.(h) Water fluoridation is safe and provides the most cost-effective means to prevent tooth decay for persons of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.(i) Water fluoridation is one of the most researched and cost-effective oral health interventions available, as the average cost of one dental filling can fund a lifetime of fluoridation, which is known to prevent eighteen to forty percent of cavities in both children and adults.(2) The general assembly further finds that improving access to oral health screening, oral health-care services, and fluoridated water for all Coloradans, particularly low-income Coloradans, will reduce the burden of oral disease. Therefore, the Colorado oral health community grants program dedicates itself to improving access to oral health-care screening and services by working with public schools, community stakeholders, professional organizations, and direct recipients of oral health care to remove barriers to access to oral health care.(3) The purpose of this article 21.5 is to promote the public health and welfare of Coloradans by providing a grant program to:(a) Conduct oral health screening for public school children in kindergarten and third grade;(b) Provide oral health services, including sealants, to school children; and(c) Assist communities in attaining optimal levels of fluoride in drinking water provided by community water systems as a means of preventing dental decay.Amended by 2024 Ch. 481,§ 1, eff. 6/7/2024.Repealed and reenacted with amendments by 2013 Ch. 404, § 3, eff. 6/5/2013.