County Health Department, Community Partners and Medical School Research Unit Use Four Different Methodologies to Measure Local Children's Oral Health Needs

Many communities face significant challenges in meeting their population’s oral health needs, especially the low-income and minority groups.  Identifying the needs is the first step in addressing them. McHenry County has a fairly large Hispanic population, reaching 45% of residents in Harvard, Illinois.   

To measure children’s oral health needs in this northern Illinois county, McHenry County Department of Health in conjunction with Health Systems Research of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford used a collaborative planning process to employ four separate methodologies:  focus groups of targeted populations, interviews with community leaders and local dental providers, survey of parents of school-aged children, and collection of existing local data about demographics and oral health. Three of these methods produced “primary” data that were specifically generated for this project, while the collection of existing local data involved a synthesis of “secondary” data from a wide variety of sources, many of which are available to most communities.

Using both quantitative and qualitative data enabled a broad, comprehensive and multi-dimensional view of this community’s oral health needs. Findings revealed the capacity of local dentists, access problems involving existing services, gaps and barriers to care, current parental knowledge and attitudes about children’s oral health, as well as best ways to communicate messages. 

Oral health literacy emerged as the leading unmet community need.  Recommendations were offered about ways to expand access, improve oral health knowledge, and build effective parental behaviors about their children’s oral health.