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    The Dental Home

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    Zahid Nabi
    The document discusses the concept of a dental home, which is a primary care oral health model. It aims to establish comprehensive and continuous oral healthcare for children from an early age through adulthood. A dental home begins with a pediatric dentist and transitions to a general dentist as children grow. It emphasizes prevention through risk assessments and anticipatory guidance. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry strongly supports the dental home concept and outlines its key responsibilities, including comprehensive care, risk-based prevention programs, anticipatory guidance, referrals and community collaboration to promote early childhood oral health.

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    The Dental Home

    Uploaded by

    Zahid Nabi
    52 views2 pages
    The document discusses the concept of a dental home, which is a primary care oral health model. It aims to establish comprehensive and continuous oral healthcare for children from an early age through adulthood. A dental home begins with a pediatric dentist and transitions to a general dentist as children grow. It emphasizes prevention through risk assessments and anticipatory guidance. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry strongly supports the dental home concept and outlines its key responsibilities, including comprehensive care, risk-based prevention programs, anticipatory guidance, referrals and community collaboration to promote early childhood oral health.

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    The document discusses the concept of a dental home, which is a primary care oral health model. It aims to establish comprehensive and continuous oral healthcare for children from an early age through adulthood. A dental home begins with a pediatric dentist and transitions to a general dentist as children grow. It emphasizes prevention through risk assessments and anticipatory guidance. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry strongly supports the dental home concept and outlines its key responsibilities, including comprehensive care, risk-based prevention programs, anticipatory guidance, referrals and community collaboration to promote early childhood oral health.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    52 views2 pages

    The Dental Home

    Uploaded by

    Zahid Nabi
    The document discusses the concept of a dental home, which is a primary care oral health model. It aims to establish comprehensive and continuous oral healthcare for children from an early age through adulthood. A dental home begins with a pediatric dentist and transitions to a general dentist as children grow. It emphasizes prevention through risk assessments and anticipatory guidance. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry strongly supports the dental home concept and outlines its key responsibilities, including comprehensive care, risk-based prevention programs, anticipatory guidance, referrals and community collaboration to promote early childhood oral health.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    THE DENTAL HOME: A PRIMARY CARE ORAL HEALTH CONCEPT

    Primary health care according to the World Health Organization is essential health care based
    on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made
    universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full
    participation. Another simpler definition is the medical care a patient receives upon first
    contact with the health care system before referral elsewhere within the established system.
    The concept of primary health care always brings into mind the provision of medical assistance
    and services to those in need but this whole concept does not necessarily have to be confined
    to the field of medicine only. It can be successfully applied to other paramedical fields such as
    dentistry because integration of oral health into overall health is very important.

    This gave birth to the idea of a dental home. Even though dental caries is a preventable disease,
    which can be controlled and monitored through regular dental visits, many children continue to
    experience dental caries. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggests that
    more than quarter of US children age 2-5 years and more than half the children age 6-8 years
    had dental caries in the period of 1999-2004. Also, the 2007-08 Rhode Island Third Grade Oral
    Health Survey reported that about half of third graders had experienced dental caries even
    though they had dental insurance. The study suggests that being covered under dental
    insurance did not effectively facilitate access to preventive oral health services, especially for
    children aged between 1-5 years. There are many reasons that can explain such a finding; many
    parents may not be aware of the need to access early oral health services and the
    recommended age for a child’s first dental visit.

    The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) strongly supports the concept of a dental
    home for all infants, adolescents and adults with special health care needs. The interaction
    between patients, parents, dental professionals and non dental professionals can create
    awareness of all issues that have an impact on a patient’s oral health. Pediatric primary care
    providers also play an important role in promoting child oral health. Thus , pediatric primary
    health/ dental care is best delivered where comprehensive, continuously accessible, family
    centered, compassionate and culturally effective care is delivered by qualified child health
    specialists. Hence, a dental home is a practice that embraces children early and continues to
    follow them periodically through life as they grow older. It may begin in the office of a pediatric
    dentist and move on to that of a family dentist once the child is comfortable and confident
    enough to be treated by a general dental practitioner. The advantages of a dental home cannot
    be emphasized enough as it drives for early intervention with optimal preventive strategies
    based on the risk assessment of the patient.

    1
    POLICY STATEMENT OF A DENTAL HOME:

    1. The AAPD encourages parents and other care providers to help every child establish a dental
    home by 12 months of age.

    2. The AAPD recognizes a dental home should provide:


    a) Comprehensive oral health care including acute care and preventive services in accordance
    with AAPD periodicity schedules
    b) Comprehensive assessment for oral diseases and conditions
    c) Individualized preventive dental health program based upon a caries risk assessment and a
    periodontal disease risk assessment
    d) Anticipatory guidance about growth and development issues (i.e. teething, digit or pacifier
    habits)
    e) Plan for acute dental trauma
    f) Information about proper care of the child’s teeth and gingiva. This would include the
    prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease of the supporting and surrounding tissues and
    the maintenance of health, function, and esthetics of those structures and tissues
    g) Dietary counseling
    h) Referrals to dental specialists when care cannot directly be provided within the dental home
    i) Education regarding future referral to a dentist knowledgeable with adult oral health issues
    for continuing oral health care.

    3. The AAPD advocates interaction with early intervention programs, schools, early childhood
    education and childcare programs, members of the medical and dental communities, and other
    public and private community agencies to ensure awareness of age specific oral health issues.

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