Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation
The Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to advancing the health of Maine children and focus much of their resources on improving oral health.
The Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation was established through the will of Sadie Davis, who died in 2005. Mrs. Davis' husband, Dr. Harry E. Davis, was a Portland pediatrician for over 40 years. Harry Davis received his medical training from Tufts Medical School in 1919, after which he interned first at the Chelsea Memorial Hospital and later at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. He did postgraduate work in the children's division of Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Davis returned to Portland in the early 1920s to work as a pediatrician, and served as Chief of Pediatrics at Mercy Hospital from 1943 until his death in 1963.
The Foundation's approach, which was endorsed by the Maine Dental Association, was to create From The First Tooth, a pilot program which integrated early prevention oral health care into the fabric of medical and social services for very young children and their families. Modeled after North Carolina's highly successful Into the Mouths of Babes program, the goal of From the First Tooth is to reduce dental disease in Maine’s youngest children, ages 6-42 months, from the appearance of their first tooth until their 3rd year well child visit.
Typically, children before age three do not visit a dentist but are routinely seen by their primary care provider for well child checkups, making it an ideal time for providers to practice preventive techniques such as applying a fluoride coating or "varnish" on the tooth surfaces and providing oral health education recommendations for the child’s caregiver. From The First Tooth trains healthcare providers how to perform an oral health screening, apply fluoride varnish, and talk to the child's parent or caregiver about how early childhood caries can be prevented with proper oral health care..
On March 1, 2009, MaineHealth, the state’s largest integrated health system, which includes Maine Medical Center, became the administrative home of From the First Tooth and received funding to complete the Pilot Phase and begin statewide expansion of the initiative via a strategic partnership with both EMHS and MaineGeneral Health
To further develop and evaluate the program, MaineHealth is collaborating with the Center for Research to Evaluate and Eliminate Dental Disparities (CREEDD) at Boston University's Goldman School of Dental Medicine, a national leader in the prevention of early childhood caries.
In addtion to funding From the First Tooth, the Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation also makes a limited number of small grants available each year for projects that advance the health of Maine children more generally. For more information about the Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation, please contact:
Sharon L. Rosen, PhD, Executive Director
Sadie and Harry Davis Foundation
207-772-7514
slrosen@sadieandharrydavis.org