INTRODUCTION

The Bright Futures project was initiated in 1990 by the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The mission of the Bright Futures project is to promote and improve the health and well-being of infants, children, and adolescents. This is achieved through the development of educational materials and through fostering partnerships. Bright Futures provides comprehensive, culturally effective, family centered, community-based child health supervision guidelines consistent with the needs of families and health professionals. The Bright Futures guidelines provide the foundation for a coordinated series of educational materials for health professionals and families.

Recognizing oral health as a vital component of health, HRSA's MCHB sponsored the development of Bright Futures in Practice: Oral Health. The information contained in Bright Futures in Practice: Oral Health—Pocket Guide is excerpted from Bright Futures in Practice: Oral Health, the cornerstone document Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, and other sources. The pocket guide is designed to be a useful tool for a wide array of health professionals including dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, dietitians, and others to address the oral health needs of infants, children, and adolescents.

This pocket guide offers health professionals an overview of preventive oral health supervision for five developmental periods—pregnancy and postpartum, infancy, Early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Although age groupings are designed to take advantage of naturally occurring milestones, many oral health issues cut across multiple developmental periods. The information presented in the pocket guide is intended as an overview rather than as a comprehensive description of pediatric oral health. The information does not prescribe a specific regimen of care but builds upon existing guidelines and treatment protocols such as those recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Dietetic Association.

Optimal oral health for infants, children, and adolescents can be achieved through an effective partnership between families, oral health professionals (e.g., dentists, dental hygienists), and other health professionals (e.g., obstetricians/gynecologists, pediatricians, family physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, dietitians). Health professionals need to help families understand the causes of oral disease, especially tooth decay, and how to reduce or prevent oral disease and injury in their infants, children, and adolescents.