The UCLA Children’s Center for Oral Health will play a role in addressing the importance of how children’s oral health is approached through policy and advocacy. Collaboration amongst various organizations, campaigning for legislative reform, as well as training pediatric dental residents will be essential for effective change to take place.Policy & Advocacy |
Introduction to Policy and Advocacy in Pediatric Dentistry - Online Course
Annually, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) organizes an opportunity for first year UCLA pediatric dental residents to visit the Hill in Washington, DC. The residents, accompanied by mentors, including dental faculty and private-practice dentists from Los Angeles, are given the opportunity to make appointments with representatives including senators and congressmen and congresswomen to advocate for policies that promote oral health in children For many residents, this is their first experience presenting to elected officials and advocating for legislation that can address the specific oral health needs in the communities that they will serve.
|
Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez, with a global team of dentists, drafted a policy on infant oral health to be implemented on a global scale, which will be adopted by the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry (IAPD) in Summer 2016. Children 0-3 years of age have unique oral health challenges due to their dependence on parents and caregivers. Starting with pregnant women and their infants, it is essential that providers be aware of all associated risk factors of dental caries and ECC, make appropriate decisions regarding timely and effective interventions for pregnant women, and facilitate the establishment of a dental home when the first tooth erupts, or by age one. There should be a coordinated and integrated effort of parents, daycare centers, schools, health ministries and other stakeholders to increase awareness of the value of good oral health from infancy and decrease the intake of sugar in all its forms at an early age.
Recommendations from the policy to reduce ECC, efficient perinatal and infant oral health preventive measures should include:
|
Little Hoover CommissionThe independent commission prepared a lengthy report on the state of California’s Denti-Cal program. As part of its study, the Commission explored potential improvements to make the Denti-Cal program easier to use and more attractive and viable for providers. It also examined Medicaid dental programs in other states and examined improvements that have reduced so-called “red tape” and increased the number of providers.
|
Dental Transformation InitiativeWithin the Medi-Cal 2020 Waiver, the Dental Transformation Initiative (DTI) represents a critical mechanism to improve dental health for Medi-Cal children by focusing on high-value care, improved access, and utilization of performance measures to drive delivery system reform. More specifically, this strategy aims to increase the use of preventive dental services for children, prevent and treat more early childhood caries, and increase continuity of care for children. Given the importance of oral health to the overall health of an individual, California views improvements in dental care as critical to achieving overall better health outcomes for Medi-Cal beneficiaries, particularly children.
|
In 2014, a Policy Statement on the subject of Perinatal and Infant Oral Health led by Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez along with other dentists was adopted by the FDI World Dental Federation in New Delhi, India. This policy addresses the chronic disease of early childhood caries (ECC) impacting children 6 years of age and younger and how poor maternal oral health can be a contributing factor. Preventative measures through education and interprofessional collaboration of healthcare providers are discussed to reduce ECC and to improve perinatal oral health. This policy heavily advocates the training of pediatric oral health for primary healthcare providers, who are able to utilize and implement the preventative measures at a greater frequency. In addition, improving the health literacy of patients, parents and caregivers is required in order to reduce the prevalence of ECC.
|