Submitted photo

Advantage Dental hygienist Mindy Bentley provides outreach services to Harney County students.

Who is this masked person? Mindy Bentley would be my guess!

She is the Advantage Dental hygienist who has been coming to our Harney County schools to provide community outreach services since 2016.

Burns Dental Group and EOLA are supporters of the Advantage Community Outreach program. Bentley will continue to work with Hines Middle School and Burns High School. She has already provided services to Crane and the rural schools.

Realizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has created difficulty in scheduling services this school year, Slater Elementary School has been fortunate to set dates for Bentley to come to the school Jan. 25 to 28!

Services offered include screenings, fluoride varnish, silver fluoride, and sealants. These services are of greater value to even more students than before because kids who normally receive routine dental care may not have been able to do so. Reasons may include missing regularly scheduled care as a result of rescheduled appointments and some dental office closures due to the pandemic.

After the screenings, children needing further treatment will be referred to their regular dentist for care. All children are encouraged to visit a dentist for regular care at least once per year.

Slater recently sent information to parents and families with the consent forms and details about the services. Each child needs to have a signed consent form before services can be provided. All services will be provided in accordance with the COVID-19 and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to protect children and staff.