Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #103499

Wendy Ring, MD, MPH, Mobile Medical Office, 301 P Street, Eureka, CA 94401, 707 443-4666, wring@mobilemed.org

Pediatric caries is epidemic and the shortage of dentists willing to treat low income children, along with the suffering involved in untreated dental disease, make prevention a priority activity. Since low income children can barely access treatment, much less preventive care, the locus of prevention must be elsewhere. Health care facilities which serve pediatric patients have an opportunity to provide both education and intervention. In addition to education and handing out toothbrushes, activities which can be undertaken include caries risk assessment, oral screening exams, prescription of systemic fluoride, distribution of xylitol gum, and application of fluoride varnish. These interventions are readily accepted by families and serve to establish a positive attitude toward dental care in young patients who do not have routine access to a pediatric dentist. Incorporation of preventive dental activities into medical care settings requires funding for supplies, development of streamlined protocols, buy-in by frontline staff, and training of medical providers. Unfortunately, the more mouths we look in, the more caries we find, bringing us back to the need to increase the number of dentists who provide care for low income children.

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