Wichita ? Residents of one of Wichita’s poorest neighborhoods will receive low-cost dental care through a new program.

The Healthy Parents, Smart Kids Oral Health Initiative is a three-year, $300,000 project that will provide dental care to one member of each of the 50 families picked to participate.

The rest of the family members will receive dental education and a supply of xylitol, a natural sugar that studies have shown hinders tooth decay. It often is used as a gum or mint.

When polled about their concerns, residents of Planeview consistently listed a lack of dental care as one of the top three problems, said Toni Pickard, director of Healthy Options for Planeview, the nonprofit neighborhood program that will oversee the project.

Few of Sedgwick County’s 172 general-practice dentists accept Medicaid patients, she said, and even fewer can afford to hire staff members who speak one of the 19 languages spoken by Planeview residents.

To participate, at least one family member must be in Healthy Options for Planeview’s Moms and Mentors program, in which young mothers meet with professionals to learn about nutrition, prenatal care, child development and other topics.

That member of the family will get up to $750 worth of dental care over the course of a year. The families will pay about 20 percent of the cost of the dental care. The rest of the expense will be split between the grants and the dentists.

“We know they don’t want charity,” Pickard said. “This is a partnership.”

Funding for the program comes from in-kind services and grants from the Knight Foundation, the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and other groups.