National Maternal and Child Oral Health
Resource Center
This inaugural issue of the Oral Health Alert: Focus on Head Start is also available at http://www.mchoralhealth.org/alert/2006/OHalert0106.html.
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1. Health and Safety in the Child Care
Setting: Promoting Children's
Oral Health -- A Curriculum for Health Professionals and Child Care
Providers
This curriculum provides health and education professionals with background information, strategies, and lesson plans for promoting the oral health of infants and young children. Six areas of oral health delineated by the pediatric oral profession are addressed: oral development, oral habits, health and hygiene, fluoridation, nutrition, and injury prevention and care.
Contact: California Childcare Health Program, 1333 Broadway, Suite 1010, Oakland, CA 94612-1926. Telephone: (510) 839-1195; fax: (510) 839-0330; Web site: http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org. Available at no charge at http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/pdfs/Curricula/oral_health_11_v5.pdf.Back to top
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2. ADA Statement on Toothbrush Care: Cleaning, Storage and Replacement
This position statement from the American Dental Association provides general recommendations for toothbrush care, sanitation, storage, and replacement. A scientific assessment of the reported link between toothbrush contamination and oral or systemic health is also presented.
Contact: American Dental Association, 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611-2678. Telephone: (312) 440-2500; fax: (312) 440-7494; e-mail: info@ada.org; Web site: http://www.ada.org. Available at no charge from the Web site at http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/positions/statements/toothbrush.asp.Back to top
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3. Access and Utilization of Dental Services by Alabama Medicaid-Enrolled Children: A Parent Perspective
This survey of 4,500 parents of children ages 3-19 assessed barriers to utilization of oral health services and identified families who used or did not use Medicaid-covered oral health services. Families who did not use Medicaid-covered oral health services included a group with high perceived need and barriers to care and a group with low perceived need and barriers. The authors conclude that interventions must target both groups.
Agili DE, Bronstein JM, Green-McIntyre M. 2005. Pediatric Dentistry 27(5):414-421. Abstract available at http://www.aapd.org/searcharticles/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=2044. Back to top
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4. An Evaluation of Pediatric Dental Patient Education Materials Using Contemporary Health Literacy Materials
This study evaluated 22 clinically related, professionally produced consumer oral health education materials provided by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry using a method that had previously been deemed valid and reliable. All materials were rated for five categories of assessment (i.e., content, literacy demand, graphics, layout and typography, and learning stimulation/motivation) and also received an overall assessment. The materials were largely rated as superior. The authors suggest that the content, graphics, and learning stimulation categories require additional attention and that improvements in these categories could raise the materials' overall quality.
Kang E, Fields HW, Cornett S, Beck EM. 2005. Pediatric Dentistry 27(5):409-413. Abstract available at http://www.aapd.org/searcharticles/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=2043.Back to top
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5. Reliability and Validity of Brief Measures of Oral Health-Related Knowledge, Fatalism, and Self-Efficacy in Mothers of African American Children
This study used survey and dental examination data from 719 mothers and their children (ages 1-5) to develop and evaluate four new measures reflecting mothers' potentially modifiable cognitions associated with African-American children's oral health. The measures included (1) knowledge about children's oral hygiene needs, (2) knowledge about appropriate bottle use, (3) sense of fatalism, and (4) level of self-efficacy related to brushing a young child's teeth regularly. Results support the reliability and validity of the new measures. The authors state that, if these measures are confirmed by further research, it will be possible to use them to develop tailored interventions to reduce oral health disparities.
Finlayson TL, Siefert K, Ismail AI, Delva J, Sohn W. 2005. Pediatric Dentistry 27(5):422-428. Abstract available at http://www.aapd.org/searcharticles/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=2045.Back to top
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The Oral Health Alert: Focus on Head Start is administered by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) at Georgetown University.
The Oral Health Alert is made possible by grant number IHIFMC06348 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) (Title V, Social Security Act), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This funding is part of an intra-agency agreement between the Head Start Bureau (HSB) and MCHB. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of MCHB/HRSA, HSB, DHHS, or GU.
Managing Editor: Katrina Holt
Writer: Jolene Bertness
Editor: Ruth Barzel
List Administrator: Sarah Kolo
Oral Health Alert
National
Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
Georgetown University
Box 571272
Washington, DC 20057-1272
Phone: (202) 784-9771
Fax: (202) 784-9777
E-mail: OHAlertadmin@mchoralhealth.org