Oman Dental College partnered with local health agencies in Zanzibar, Tanzania, for an international dental outreach project. This early-stage engagement aims to address Zanzibar's pressing dental health needs and to provide a transformative educational experience for student volunteers. Informed by the intertwined histories of Oman and Zanzibar,…

Taking action to address health-related chronic absenteeism can have a powerful impact on students' academic success and build the foundation for healthy, successful lives. This document focuses on providing educators, particularly school district decision-makers, with knowledge and practical guidance for creating meaningful change to address…

Introduction: Children and young people in India have a high prevalence of dental decay. As part of a broader epidemiological study, we interviewed 10 head teachers to understand the status of, and challenges to, inclusion of oral health education in the curricula of public and private schools in Tamil Nadu, India. Objectives: The two main…

Background: Cognitively impaired patients often present poor oral health status that may be explained by ethical tensions in oral healthcare management. This participatory study explored such tensions among adults with intellectual disabilities and with caregivers. The second objective was to specify, with caregivers, the points that should be…

Background: School-based dental programs target high-risk communities and reduce barriers to obtaining dental services by delivering care to students in their schools. We describe the evaluation of a school-based dental program operating in Chelsea, a city north of Boston, with a low-income and largely minority population, by comparing…

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was established by the "Children's Health Act of 2000" (Public Law 106-310), reconstituted under the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA;…

The challenges of resolving the oral health disparities among children and other vulnerable populations requires a well-organized community safety net, along with a sincere commitment to prioritize the elimination of this common, but preventable, dental disease. Adequate funding for basic health needs, while incorporating oral health care into a…

Maintaining oral health is central to a high quality of life because it limits the risks of disease. The oral health status of children with visual impairments should be investigated so their health care needs can be determined and preventive dental procedures can be implemented. This paper presents a study that aimed to evaluate the oral health…

Mail-in pilot-tested questionnaires were sent to a stratified random sample of 1,500 families from the North Carolina Autism Registry. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the significance of unmet dental needs and other predictors. Of 568 surveys returned (Response Rate = 38%), 555 were complete and usable. Sixty-five…

Children with special health care needs face many barriers to oral care and are at high risk for oral disease. School nurses are in a unique position to promote oral wellness in this vulnerable population. Collaboration between school nurses and dental hygiene faculty resulted in the formation of a partnership between a university-based dental…

A group of 41 Tulsa Tech students and two instructors volunteered to the Mission of Mercy, a free, two-day dental clinic co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Dental Association, the Delta Dental of Oklahoma Charitable Foundation and the Oklahoma Dental Foundation held downtown at the Tulsa Convention Center. The clinic was designed to meet the critical…

Objective: This research was undertaken to explore factors operating at the level of the clinic and the community which influence the development of the oral health role of Indigenous Health Workers. The research is a significant aspect of a wider study of the disconnect between the strong national policy support for the development of the oral…

Purpose: To determine if rural residence is independently associated with different access to health care services for children eligible for public health insurance. Methods: We conducted a mail-return survey of 10,175 families randomly selected from Oregon's food stamp population (46% rural and 54% urban). With a response rate of 31%, we used a…

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the oral health condition and treatment needs of a group of individuals with Down syndrome in Nigeria. Method: Participants were examined for oral hygiene status, dental caries, malocclusion, hypoplasia, missing teeth, crowding and treatment needs. Findings were compared with controls across age…

Background: Unmet need for dental care is the most prevalent unmet health care need among children with special health care needs (CSHCN), even though these children are at a greater risk for dental problems. The combination of rural residence and special health care needs may leave rural CSHCN particularly vulnerable to high levels of unmet…