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

Abstract #110401

Dianne M. Riter, MPH, CHES, Foundation, Washington Dental Service Foundation, P.O. Box 75688, Seattle, WA 98175-0688 and Tracy E. Garland, Washington Dental Service Foundation, PO Box 75983, Seattle, WA 98175-0983, 206-528-7388, tpgarland@deltadentalwa.com.

Oral disease is the single most common chronic childhood disease in America. Washington state's one-year-olds are five times as likely, as children nationwide to have dental decay. Further, just over 50% of the state's population has access to fluoridated drinking water.

As primary medical providers see young children routinely and are familiar with referring clients to specialty providers, like dentists, they are in a natural role for early intervention and making referrals as needed. Washington Dental Service Foundation is working to engage the primary care medical system in delivering oral health preventive services. The Foundation's goal is to expand the delivery of preventive oral health services in routine well child care visits, including screening for early signs of infection that could lead to tooth decay, risk assessment, family education, fluoride varnish and referrals to dentists as needed.

The Foundation has funded three pilot projects that have yielded results that can form the platform for widespread adoption in primary care settings. The projects were successful in identifying ways to recruit, train and support primary care providers who are willing to include oral health preventive services in their well-child exams. This included developing tools for risk assessment, training, screening, parent education and practice management that make it easy to incorporate protocols in the medical office.

Engaging medical providers in prevention has the potential for significantly reducing early childhood caries and increasing the number of children who will experience good oral health throughout their life.

Learning Objectives:

• -Define the case for addressing oral health in primary care settings
• -Identify the key factors that influence providers to advance their patients’ oral health
• -List oral health preventive services to include in routine well child checks

Keywords: Primary Care, Oral Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Fluoride varnish will be mentioned as a tool in caries prevention.

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.