|
About
http://www.dentalaid.org/
Location: Colorado Contact: Dr. Dennis Lewis, President & CEO dlewis@dentalaid.org http://www.cavityfreeatthree.org/
Location: Colorado Contact: Karen Savoie, RDH, BS, Director Karen.Savoie@ucdenver.edu |
Dental Aid was the first non-profit comprehensive dental clinic in the U.S. They provide basic dental for low-income and uninsured residents of the Front Range. They serve 7,000+ children and adults annually in 3 clinics in Boulder, Longmont and Louisville and a satellite clinic in Boulder. The President & CEO is Dr. Dennis Lewis, who is a founding member of Cavity Free at Three. Dental Aid aims to reach kids and moms and educate mothers when they are pregnant on the importance of bringing in their child to the dentist by their first birthday. They emphasize early dental visits that are focused on prevention and being cavity-free.
From Cavity Free at Three homepage "The idea behind Cavity Free at Three is to give all health care providers that work with children – in the medical, public health and dental communities – the skills and resources necessary to truly prevent dental caries. Each profession can play a major role in educating families, assessing risk and assuring access to care. Together it is possible to turn the tide in our children’s oral health. We can offer children a healthy beginning and a trajectory of good oral health for a lifetime." |
|
Target Audience: Low-income and uninsured
|
Dental Aid serves low-income and uninsured residents of the Front Range and provides oral health care for:
Source: Who We Serve |
|
Target Audience: Expectant mothers
|
Two for one – Treat a pregnant woman and both she and her child win
Research shows that women with periodontal disease are 3 to 5x more likely to have an underweight pre-term baby. As a result of the Bright Smiles for Bright Futures program that treated pregnant moms so they would have healthier and cleaner gums, the clinic had fewer low-birth-weight babies and preterm births.
|
|
Sustained effort over time
|
From article: Reasons to Smile in the Fall 2012 issue of Health Elevations The Journal of the Colorado Health Foundation (page 10)
The new moms who had received treatment at the clinic began bringing their children in.
"Not only were they more likely to bring their children in than women who hadn't been in the program, but they were likely to bring them in earlier," Lewis says. "In a high-risk population, the chances of us seeing a child by the first birthday are virtually nil. But with these women, we do. And by age 3, their children have about a third as many cavities as other kids in the same income group." And when kids do get cavities, they are smaller and less expensive to treat. They also are more likely to avoid the surgery that can be involved. Lewis notes that Children's Hospital Colorado keeps several operating rooms busy daily with oral disease cases. "That means they have to go to the hospital less often. It really does affect the whole cycle," Lewis says. |
|
Active involvement of participants
Individual attention
|
From Dental Aid's Oral Health Education
Individual Patient Education All Dental Aid patients receive individualized oral health education during each visit. Patients (and when the patient is a child, their parents) receive information on the benefits of brushing, flossing, fluoride, good nutrition, and regular dental visits. Patients and parents are also asked to commit to positive oral health behavior changes for themselves and their children. The result is an increase in awareness of good oral health care, not only for the patient, but for the entire family. With Cavity Free at Three’s Self Management Goals (in both English and Spanish), the caregiver chooses only 1 or 2 of the 9 goals that they indicated when, how often and the likelihood of accomplishing. The staff works individually with the caregiver to fill out this goal sheet and follows up on it at subsequent visits. No one can remember 9 goals. Focus on only 1 or 2 goals at a time and have the participant choose which 1 or 2. 
|
|
Assessments
|
From Dental Aid's Research
"It is now believed that the transmission of bacteria from caregiver to infant is the most significant cause of early childhood cavities. Dental Aid is conducting a three-year research study to determine the effectiveness of using Xylitol (a natural sweetener shown to kill cavity-causing bacteria) to decrease the transmission of cavity-causing bacteria from mother to child. Mothers participating in the study have their bacterial levels monitored for one year and compared with mothers who declined to use Xylitol but agree to have their bacterial levels monitored. The oral health status of children born to participating women are monitored from ages 1 through 3, and are compared with the oral health status of mothers who declined to use Xylitol. At the end of three years, Dental Aid plans to produce a research paper containing publishable, peer-reviewed data in a journal as yet to be determined." |
|
Partnerships with other organizations
|
Dental Aid has both Health Partners and Community Partners throughout Colorado.
From Cavity Free at Three homepage Cavity Free at Three partners with healthcare providers and provides all of the resources and support that they need to join the statewide efforts to improve the oral health outcomes for Colorado’s kids. This is a free service funded by six Colorado health foundations and in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. |
|
Cultural Proficiency
|
From Dental Aid's Who We Serve
Inclusiveness is an integral part of Dental Aid’s ability to positively impact oral health in our diverse and underserved patient populations. The patient population of Dental Aid is nearly half Latino/a, and more than half of our dental support staff is bilingual/bicultural in English/Spanish. At last count, Dental Aid staff speaks at least 11 different languages, and translation services for languages not spoken by Dental Aid staff are available via telephone." From Cavity Free at Three's Educating Parents Both the Children's Oral Health brochure and the Prenatal Oral Health brochure are available in 10 different languages. |
