NEW ULM — Brown County commissioners unanimously approved a memorandum of agreement Tuesday designed to help children and others smile more often.

Under the agreement, Brown County Public Health will provide space for Children’s Dental Services (CDS) to offer a mobile dental unit specializing in dental car to pregnant women, infants, children and adults of all ages, regardless of family income to Brown County residents.

All types of insurance, medical assistance and a discount for families ineligible for medical assistance are accepted by CDS. Payment plans are available for anyone without dental insurance.

Public health agrees to pay mileage and daily service fees of $523.13 for dental hygiene and $896.46 for a restorative teams.

Brown County Public Health Director Jaimee Brand said funds received from South Country Health Alliance (SCHA), a health plan owned and operated by eight Minnesota counties,

“Children’s dental health services will come at least once a month. The hygiene team will do cleaning and cavity assessment. A restorative team will do x-rays and fill cavities and do crowns,” said Brand.

She said CDS does scheduling and billing.

Brand said public health will do outreach and education on when CDS offers services in Brown County, put people in contact with CDS to be scheduled.

“We’ll do targeted outreach to community partners and groups like ECFE (early childhood family education). We know there are a huge dental service gaps across the board. The goal is to reduce emergency room visits due to dental issues. Dental hygiene prevents other diseases, even heart disease,” she said.

Brand said she’s really looking forward to this partnership and SCHA reinvestment grants were awarded to public health that help pay for the services for up to two years.

She said Watonwan County has had good success using CDS and that it has staff members that can speak to anyone in more than 20 languages.

“I fully support this. I’m grateful,” said Commissioner Dave Borchert.

“Thanks for identifying these needs,” said Commissioner Brian Braun.

The resolution came on a motion by Commissioner Dave Borchert, seconded by Brian Braun.