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San Luis Obispo County

Overview of Findings

Low-income residents of San Luis Obispo face a number of challenges when it comes to accessing dental care.  According to a key informant, there are few dental practices that accept low-income children because they are often uninsured or publicly-insured.  Low-income children of San Luis Obispo County struggle to obtain services, whether it’s basic preventive dental care or restorative treatments.  One key informant stated that there is a lack of community-based prevention programs, while another said children and families are not receiving adequate oral health education.

One group that is bringing oral health to the forefront and addressing the unmet oral health needs of residents in San Luis Obispo County is the Oral Health Coalition.  At the time of the interview, the coalition was in the process of developing an oral health strategic plan for the county.  The coalition was also coordinating oral health services through an integrated program that combines preventative and restorative services.  The preventive component of the program includes providing fluoride varnishing treatments to children in the Head Start program.  The key informant interviewed stated that one of the challenges of the coalition is getting community-based groups to collaborate and create unity.
La Clinica de Tolosa in Paso Robles is a non-profit children’s dental clinic serving children from low-income families throughout San Luis Obispo County.  The clinic offers pediatric dental care including preventive care, oral health education, restorative treatments, emergency care, and hospital based services.  Patients must be 12 years old and younger or under the age of 18 for children in Foster Care.  The clinic accepts Medi-Cal, Healthy Kids, or Healthy Families.  Families without insurance are charged for services according to a sliding scale based on income.

Fresno County

Data

The following links lead to visual representations of the data collected in the surveys for this county. Maps in the 'slideshow' have accompanying text that helps explain what is visually taking place as well as comparing the results of this county's maps to the results for the rest of the region. The PDF maps have no explanation text and are only the visual image.

View Map Slideshow

Download Map PDFs:

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