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Head Start Oral Health Assessment

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Abstract

Purpose A Head Start program located in Paterson, New Jersey considered establishing a school-based dental clinic to address unmet oral health needs such as access to care and the need for restorative treatment. The purpose of this study was to establish the oral health status of Head Start children, their treatment needs, and parents’ interest and willingness to utilize a school-based dental clinic. Description School-based dental care has been used to address access to care issues, particularly among children who live in underserved areas. A 21 item survey was used to correlate the results of an oral exam performed on the Head Start children and the parents’ preferences, beliefs and access patterns. Fisher’s exact test and Chi squared test were used to study the association among variable with significance levels set at 0.05. Assessment The oral exam revealed a high caries rate amongst all of the children. Parental responses indicated strong support for the establishment of a school-based clinic and identified the need for further parental education. Having a regular source of care was found to be unrelated to treatment needs. Conclusion Further education of the parents regarding the child’s oral health is critical to the success and viability of this school-based clinic.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Periodontics, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, 110 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA

    Rebecca Reed

  2. Department of Community Health, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, 110 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA

    Jill York, Rosa Chaviano-Moran & Joseph Holtzman

  3. Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, 230 W. 125th Street, 3rd Floor Dean’s Suite, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Nadege Dady

  4. Department of Institutional Assessment and Quality Improvement, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, 110 Bergen Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA

    Shuying Jiang

Authors
  1. Rebecca Reed
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  2. Jill York
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  3. Nadege Dady
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  4. Rosa Chaviano-Moran
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  5. Shuying Jiang
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  6. Joseph Holtzman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Reed.

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Reed, R., York, J., Dady, N. et al. Head Start Oral Health Assessment. Matern Child Health J 20, 962–967 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-1938-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-1938-8

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