Reducing oral health disparities among children through policy change in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Critical changes have been made in the federally funded school meals programs to reduce sugar consumption among children. These changes have had little impact on the oral health status of children who are not yet school-age, and for children when they are not on school grounds. Other federally funded programs contribute much more to the disparity of excess consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), but do not have policies to reduce these high consumption levels. Finding mechanisms within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamp program) to incentivize the purchase of healthier foods, while reducing the consumption of SSB will be critical in reducing oral health disparities among children.