The National Children's Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF) is proud to award a grant of $25,000 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. The grant is earmarked to support the University's Infant and Toddler's Oral Health initiative, titled bOHP or baby Oral Health Program.
NCOHF is a national network of progressive, not-for-profit community-based children's dental facilities. NCOHF disburses grant funds to members of its Affiliate network who increase access to dental care for underserved children. Since 2006, NCOHF has awarded more than $2 million in financial grants and product donations to help provide oral health education and increase access to dental care for children.
NCOHF's grant will help the University's School of Dentistry distribute its bOHP Kits© to graduating dental students, and the general dental community in North Carolina. These kits will help standardize dentists' training and provide students with a hands-on package they can use in their private practices, thereby equipping them to care for young children. Ultimately, the bOHP Kit will be shared with other dental schools and dental teams nationwide to help integrate oral healthcare for infants and toddlers into their practices.
"To break the unfortunate chain of events associated with early childhood caries, dentists must reach children at an earlier age," said J. Timothy Wright, DDS, MS, Bawden Distinguished Professor and Chair. "Our bOHP program was inspired in part by data suggesting that dentists with hands-on and lecture training in infant and young child oral examinations in dental school are significantly more likely to perform these treatments versus those dentists who only received lecture and/or laboratory only or no education in this area.
"We believe that with proper support and resources, the bOHP program can provide an opportunity for dental students, residents and practitioners to increase their knowledge and effectively deliver preventive oral health services to young children."
"NCOHF is proud to support the establishment of the bOHP program, which illustrates the University's commitment to developing innovative solutions to provide every child the opportunity for a healthy smile," said Fern Ingber, president and CEO of NCOHF. "Members of the NCOHF national Affiliate Network, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Dentistry, are eligible to receive grants, donated products and other valuable services to assist their efforts to eliminate pediatric dental disease."
