Preventing oral health disease in Arizona's youngest children

Current trends in Arizona show that as many as 2/3 of children have some incidence of tooth decay by age five and 1/3 of children have decay that is untreated. In the not so distant past, many adults believed that tooth decay in baby teeth was not an emergent health need because the teeth are not permanent and adult teeth eventually emerge. In recent years, it has become clear that the oral health status of a child's baby teeth is an indicator of the status they will have once they get adult teeth. In addition, there are a number of acute and chronic health conditions associated with untreated tooth decay that might impact a child's overall health. The Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board has prioritized improving the oral health status of children. To this end, a number of preventative oral health strategies, such as fluoride varnishing and teledentistry programs, were developed and have begun implementation. This session will discuss how those strategies were developed using community based needs and assets reports. Initial implementation of the programs revealed barriers and yielded significant successes which will also be discussed. Finally, we will discuss how ongoing quality improvement has led to the development of a plan to address additional gaps in services and supports for families, all leading to the ultimate goal; that every child in Arizona will have a Dental Home where they will receive preventative and ongoing oral health services.