The evidence indicates that dental therapists provide effective, quality, and safe care for children in an economical manner and are generally accepted both by the public and where their use is established, by the dental profession.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the Children's Oral Health Initiative (COHI) is to increase access to preventive oral health services provided to First Nations and Inuit (FN/I) children living on federal reserves and in remote communities.PARTICIPANTS: COHI targets preschool children; 5-7-year-olds; pregnant women; and parents/caregivers in FN/I communities. SETTING:The program was piloted in 2004 by Health Canada and is potentially available to all FN/I communities. However, the community must consent to the program's implementation and agree to support a community member to be trained as a COHI aide. INTERVENTION:Dental therapists and hygienists screen eligible children, apply fluoride varnish and sealants to children's teeth, and stabilize active dental caries with glass ionomer. An innovation was the development of a community oral health worker, the COHI Aide. The COHI Aide is a community member who serves as an advocate for preventive oral health in the community and provides instruction to children, parent/caregivers and expectant mothers in preventing dental caries.RESULTS: COHI was piloted in 41 communities in 2004. By 2014, the program had expanded to 320 FN/I communities, which represents 55% of all eligible FN/I communities. In 2012, 23,085 children had received COHI preventive oral health services. CONCLUSION:The results demonstrate COHI's success as a preventive oral health care delivery model in remote communities. Implementation and delivery of preventive oral health services has been enhanced by the sustained presence of a community-based COHI Aide.KEY WORDS: Indigenous health services; pediatric dentistry; oral health; dental caries; community health worker La traduction du résumé se trouve à la fin de l'article.Can J Public Health 2016;107(2):e188-e193 doi: 10.17269/CJPH.107.5299A pproximately 4% (1.4 million people) of the Canadian population self-identify as being of Aboriginal descent. Of these individuals, over 314,000 live in 636 communities, also referred to as federal reserves, located on lands held in trust for bands by the Crown.

The Children’s Oral Health Initiative (COHI) is a federally funded community-based preventive dental program for children and their caregivers living in geographically isolated Canadian Aboriginal communities. The goal of the program is to improve access to preventive dental services for children of 0–7 years of age. It utilises community health workers in collaboration with dental therapists to promote and deliver the program. Almost half of the province of Manitoba’s (n=27) First Nations communities have implemented COHI since 2005. The objective of this investigation was to explore the opinions of COHI from the perspective of community members whose children had participated in the program. Purposeful selection identified caregivers of enrolled children for a semi-structured interview. The targeted caregivers had children who met at least one of the following criteria: (1) 0–2 years old; (2) 5–7 years old; (3) had two or more children either currently or formerly enrolled in COHI. Six open-ended questions guided the interview process. Content analysis was used to code transcripts and identify themes. One hundred and forty-one interviews were completed in 13 communities. Participants defined good oral health as the absence of dental cavities, which reflects a Western biomedical model of disease. The local, community-based nature of COHI was viewed as essential to its success in increasing access to preventive dental services and improving children and caregivers’ oral health knowledge and behaviours. In conclusion, a local, community-based oral health prevention programme is perceived as having a beneficial effect on children and caregivers’ oral health knowledge and behaviours. However, oral health preventive messages need to be further integrated into traditional Aboriginal holistic models of wellness.

Community health workers were beneficial in promoting programme enrolment, as well as facilitating and augmenting the delivery of preventive dental services.

The aim of this study was to describe the changes in oral health policies and guidelines in response to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in different countries and regions around the world. Information on oral health policies and guidelines from 9 countries (Canada, China including Hong Kong, Egypt, India, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Thailand) were summarized, and sources of the information were mostly the national or regional health authorities and/or dental council/associations. The changes made to the oral health guidelines depended on the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included suspension of non-emergency dental care services at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, and easing the restrictions on non-essential and elective dental care when the pandemic became under control. The COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies include strict adherence to infection control practices (use of hand sanitizers, facemask and maintaining social distancing), reducing the amount of aerosol production in the dental setting, and managing the quality of air in the dental treatment rooms by reducing the use of air conditioners and improving air exchange. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown a major impact on dental practice. Dental professionals are trying to adapt to the new norms, while the medium to long-term impact of COVID-19 on dentistry needs further investigation.