Neonatal and Pediatric Medicine
Open Access

Case Report

Improving Oral Health of Young Children: An Interprofessional Demonstration Project

¹Case Western Reserve University, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Room 322, C, Cleveland, OH 44106-4904, USA

²The University of Akron, USA

³Nutrition Center, The University of Akron, USA

*Corresponding Author:

DiMarco MA
Associate Professor Emeritus, The University of Akron, Associate Professor Case Western Reserve University
Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Room 322 C
Cleveland, OH 44106- 4904, USA
Tel: 216-368-0593, 330-416-9922
E-mail: mxd50@case.edu, dimarco@uakron.edu

Received Date: June 15, 2016; Accepted Date: June 24, 2016; Published Date: June 30, 2016

Citation: DiMarco MA, Fitzgerald K, Taylor E, Marino D, Huff M, et al. (2016) Improving Oral Health of Young Children: An Interprofessional Demonstration Project. Pediatr Dent Care 1:113. doi:10.4172/pdc.1000113

Copyright: © 2016 DiMarco MA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Introduction: The CDC report on oral health found that preschool children have increasing incidence of dental caries especially poor children. Profound disparities exist in dental services obtained by children, especially the poor. Objectives: The purpose of this project is to improve the oral health of vulnerable children via an interprofessional model through the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Methods: This project tested the feasibility of integrating primary preventive interventions of oral health assessments/teaching, fluoride varnishing and referral to a dental home into regular practice at an urban and rural WIC site using nurses, registered dieticians and students. Results: After three years, 4091 children were enrolled and received fluoride varnish. Children who were seen by the nurse/dietician at the urban or rural WIC sites were found to have more children seeking dental services through a dentist between the 2nd and 3rd WIC visits (p<0.001). Children at both sites increased their brushing or cleaning their child’s teeth between the first and second visits (p<0.05 for the rural site; p<0.001 for the urban site). Conclusion: Interprofessional cooperation along with a community based approach is needed to tackle this increasing problem of early childhood dental caries.

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