Pediatric Dental-Focused Interprofessional Interventions

Abstract

Synopsis Evidence of effectiveness for prevention of early childhood caries (ECC) suggests that parent engagement needs to occur perinatally and that unconventional providers—helping professionals like social workers and dietitians and lay health workers like community health workers—are most effective. This finding, coupled with the emergence of population-based accountable care, value-based purchasing with global payments, understanding of common risk factors for multiple conditions, and social determinants of health behaviors, calls for a rethinking of early childhood oral health care. A population-based model that incorporates unconventional providers is suggested together with research needed to achieve caries reductions in at-risk families.

Prevalence of early childhood caries among 5‐year‐old children: A systematic review

“…A systematic review described an association between the amount of sugar intake and dental caries, and suggested that ECC can be reduced by restricting sugar intake . In addition, the topical use of fluoride, including mouth rinse and toothpaste, helps to reduce dental caries . Governments and dental authorities should take these two approaches into consideration when proposing oral health‐promotion programs.…”

“…Therefore, parents and caregivers play an important role in promoting oral health for their children. Evidence suggests that parental engagement is required during the perinatal period for the effective prevention of ECC . The government and health professional organizations should reduce disparities in ECC between different socioeconomic groups within countries, as well as reduce inequalities in ECC across countries.…”

“…68 In addition, the topical use of fluoride, including mouth rinse and toothpaste, helps to reduce dental caries. 69,70 Governments and dental authorities should take these two approaches into consideration when proposing oral health-promotion programs. Strategies should be formulated to reduce morbidity from ECC, thereby increasing children's quality of life.…”

“…Evidence suggests that parental engagement is required during the perinatal period for the effective prevention of ECC. 70 The government and health professional organizations should reduce disparities in ECC between different socioeconomic groups within countries, as well as reduce inequalities in ECC across countries. In addition, the government should take responsibility for training health-care providers to periodically perform epidemiological surveillance of ECC among young children.…”

Identifying and critically examining government legislation relevant to children's dental caries in Calgary, Alberta, Canada: a health inequities lens

“…Further, professional regulation, to the extent that it is highly restrictive on scope of services, supervision, and settings for care, could contribute to limiting access to care and unnecessarily increase the cost of providing such care (10). In effect, rather than embracing a preventive focus, the current state reflects a dental health care system deeply-rooted in a downstream, treatment (and retreatment) model for children's dental decay (29); despite the widely enumerated limitations of that model (30). While our interpretation likely reflects, in part, some limitations in our adapted typology, it nevertheless sheds light on the important issue of how to best operationalize different kinds of public policies, in terms of their likelihood of reducing the prevalence of serious, preventable, costly, public health problems.…”