Oral Health Update: Region IIa QIC

By Jeanne Zozobrado

Region IIa is working hard and testing a variety of different activities to improve oral health care for Head Start children.

Representatives from the Region II Administration for Children and Families, Regional Office, Head Start Quality Improvement Center IIa, New York Dental Society, New York State Head Start Collaboration Office, and Head Start programs met to discuss ways in which they would collaborate on oral health issues. They agreed to pursue the following–

• Inviting health managers to local meetings of the New York Dental Society (NYDS) to discuss the oral health problems of Head Start children
• Encouraging health managers to invite a dentist from the NYDS to attend Health Services Advisory Committee meetings
• Sharing information about Head Start at NYDS annual meetings and information about NYDS at Head Start meetings
• Exploring ways to establish training for staff and parents on the best ways to access local dental communities

Additionally, two New Jersey programs will be chosen to participate in a pilot project on oral health. Each program will work with a dental consultant to train staff in oral health issues and to work on developing a dental health plan. The dental plan will include creative ways to ensure that each child has a dental exam, dental treatment, and a dental home.

The QIC is also planning a dental screening initiative for programs in New Jersey. This program, headed by a QIC dental consultant, will teach Head Start staff how to perform initial dental screenings on children. The purpose of this program is to ensure that children with advanced dental problems are referred to a dentist as soon as possible.

Jeanne Zozobrado is a Health Specialist, Head Start Quality Improvement Center, New York University, T: 800-336-4848; E: jzozobrado@aol.com.

 

From Research to Practice
By Stuart Reynolds
Child Inc., Austin, Texas

According to Stuart Reynolds of Child Inc., folks in Austin, Texas are putting research to practice. "One of the most immediate changes that we will initiate will be to develop a procedure to screen and examine all children beginning at one year of age. This will affect nearly 50 infants currently enrolled in our Early Head Start program. As a result of what we learned at the Oral Health Forum, we will add several key messages to our annual in-service training for teachers and to our parent workshops on dental health. Specifically, we will highlight that dental caries can be considered an infectious disease and that mothers can expose children to the infectious streptococcus mutan bacteria inadvertently through kissing or the exchange of saliva. The training will also look at ways to prevent dental caries as described in the research articles."