Community Oral Health Resources
The Anderson Center for Dental Care, located in San Diego and dedicated to taking care of the dental needs of pediatric patients, especially those with special healthcare needs, has developed handouts for parents of children with autism and with Down syndrome.
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF), California Oral Health Technical Assistance Center (COHTAC), recently released the “Tobacco Cessation Toolkit for California Dental Providers”. This toolkit was created by UCSF COHTAC in partnership with San Joaquin County Public Health Services Smoking & Tobacco Outreach and Prevention Program (STOPP) and Local Oral Health Program, and the California Department of Public Health, Office of Oral Health. The toolkit aims to provide dental professionals in California with tools and resources to help guide and improve their tobacco cessation-related practices.
To complement the toolkit, UCSF COHTAC also included a FREE one-hour, on-demand, webinar entitled, “Tobacco Cessation for California Dental Providers”. This course discusses the oral and overall health implications of tobacco use and strategies for implementing tobacco cessation interventions in dental practice, including the role of the entire dental team. All dental providers in California (only) are eligible to received 1.0 CDE credit upon completion.
Video training guide from the California Department of Public Health.
A study, published June 2018 in the Journal of Dental Research, reaffirms the benefit of community water fluoridation (CWF). The study found that where 75% or more of the population in a community has access to CWF, there was “a substantial caries-preventive benefit . . . for U.S. children and that the benefit is most pronounced in primary teeth.”
The CDC has developed downloadable materials to help educate audiences on the value of community water fluoridation.
When water fluoridation ends, tooth decay and costs for dental care rises. This resource highlights the latest research and important reasons for community water fluoridation, including a review of its safety and support by the most respected voices in health and medicine. Providers can use this evidence-based resource to engage with hesitant patients and promote oral health equity.
“When Sugar is Not So Sweet” is a brief guide that includes simple visuals and messages dental providers can use to talk with patients about reducing and eliminating sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption to reduce dental decay and other associated chronic diseases.