{"id":4468,"date":"2025-09-18T12:37:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/?page_id=4468"},"modified":"2025-09-18T12:37:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:37:45","slug":"free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Sept. 25, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/\">Chesterfield Health District<\/a> staff and volunteers will host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/oral-health\/bsb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bright Smiles for Babies<\/a>, a fluoride varnish program to protect babies ages 6 months to less than 3 years old.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mouthhealthy.org\/life-stages\/babies-and-kids\/moms-guide-to-fluoride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Dental Association<\/a> recommends this protective coating to prevent cavities. A nurse will administer a protective coating to baby teeth that will last up to six months at no cost. Bring your insurance card if applicable. We\u2019ll connect you with a local dentist who accepts Medicaid or offers a sliding scale.<\/p>\n<p>Health Educator Yenifer Jerez is taking the lead on this project and meets with parents afterward to teach them best practices for dental care.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4469 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish-300x220.jpg\" alt=\"Gloved hands use a tool to remove fluoride from a disposable cup for application on baby teeth.\" width=\"300\" height=\"220\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish.jpg 604w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/220;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn our most recent community health survey, dental health was one of the top concerns in our community,\u201d Jerez said. \u201cWe are bringing this Virginia Department of Health program back to meet the needs of people who otherwise can\u2019t afford preventive dental care. Through this program, we hope to educate families on how to maintain good oral care while providing the necessary tools to keep smiles healthy. By encouraging children to develop strong dental habits early, we\u2019re supporting prevention and helping build a strong foundation for good oral health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-three percent of all kids will get cavities before their fifth birthday, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthychildren.org\/English\/ages-stages\/baby\/teething-tooth-care\/Pages\/How-to-Prevent-Tooth-Decay-in-Your-Baby.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Register today by visiting <a href=\"http:\/\/chesterfieldva.health\">ChesterfieldVA.health<\/a>, click on events, and fill out the form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sept. 25, Chesterfield Health District staff and volunteers will host Bright Smiles for Babies, a fluoride varnish program to protect babies ages 6 months to less than 3 years old. The American Dental Association recommends this protective coating to prevent cavities. A nurse will administer a protective coating to baby teeth that will last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":614,"featured_media":0,"parent":3813,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[6,5,4,7],"class_list":["post-4468","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-baby","tag-dental","tag-fluoride","tag-teeth"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Sept. 25, Chesterfield Health District staff and volunteers will host Bright Smiles for Babies, a fluoride varnish program to protect babies ages 6 months to less than 3 years old. The American Dental Association recommends this protective coating to prevent cavities. A nurse will administer a protective coating to baby teeth that will last [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chesterfield Health District\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"604\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/\",\"name\":\"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/83\\\/varnish-300x220.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-18T12:37:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/83\\\/varnish-300x220.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/83\\\/varnish-300x220.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/news-releases\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chesterfield Health District\",\"description\":\"Chesterfield, Colonial Heights and Powhatan\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/chesterfield\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District","og_description":"On Sept. 25, Chesterfield Health District staff and volunteers will host Bright Smiles for Babies, a fluoride varnish program to protect babies ages 6 months to less than 3 years old. The American Dental Association recommends this protective coating to prevent cavities. A nurse will administer a protective coating to baby teeth that will last [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/","og_site_name":"Chesterfield Health District","og_image":[{"width":604,"height":442,"url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/","name":"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth - Chesterfield Health District","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish-300x220.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-18T12:37:45+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish-300x220.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/varnish-300x220.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/free-protective-coating-for-baby-teeth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News Releases","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/news-releases\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Free Protective Coating for Baby Teeth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/","name":"Chesterfield Health District","description":"Chesterfield, Colonial Heights and Powhatan","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4471,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4468\/revisions\/4471"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/chesterfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}