Children’s Dental Health
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Opportunities for Action

• Promote and practice prevention
• Increase the number of dental providers for low-income children
• Improve services for kids with disabilities and other special needs
• Offer services in underserved parts of the counties
• Ensure that parents can make and keep appointments

Promote and Practice Prevention

• Roles for Multiple Players: County government, nonprofit organizations, schools, early childhood programs, public media, foundations, and health providers of all types can communicate prevention messages to children and their parents, including the importance of early care and the links between oral health and other physical health.
  
  
• Policy Reform: Legislators can include adequate incentives for prevention in health reform. And policymakers at multiple levels and branches of government can help promote inclusion of dental health education in K-12 education.
  
  
• Community Collaborations: Schools can collaborate with other public and private organizations to help parents meet the new kindergarten dental assessment requirement and offer regular screening sessions and sealant clinics. Also, community organizations and schools can enlist oral hygienists to teach brushing and other prevention techniques in community settings, and work with oral health experts to explore the best opportunities for maximizing the ways in which dental paraprofessionals can serve the community.
  
  
• Fluoridation: Policymakers, dentists, and community members can work together to determine and overcome barriers to fluoridation in areas in which it is not available.
  
  
• Starting Early: Parents can start oral hygiene practices well before a child's first birthday, teach children good preventive measures, and maintain their own oral health, to avoid infecting their children with oral disease.
  
  
• Training Programs for Professionals: Community organizations, pediatricians, early childhood programs, nurses and nurse practitioners, WIC clinics, and obstetrician/gynecologists can take part in First Smiles training programs. The dental coalitions in each county can encourage groups to seek this training.
  
  
• Help from Pediatricians: Pediatricians can incorporate oral exams into routine care and apply fluoride varnish to children's teeth.