CHARLOTTE, North Carolina--The National Children's Oral Health Foundation has announced receipt of a grant from the 3M Foundation.
The grant will be used to engage pediatric and family medical providers, and early childhood educators in the Twin Cities region who will support community efforts to break the cycle of oral disease in the youngest at-risk children for whom dental disease has become a "silent epidemic."
Pediatrician Dr. Amos Deinard, a recognized pioneer in oral health prevention and a member of the Oral Health Section of the American Public Health Association and the Oral Health Project Advisory Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, will guide this innovative project.
"Thanks to the 3M Foundation's generous grant, we will be piloting an important component of the NCOHF Oral Health Zone in the Twin Cities, beginning this fall," said Deinard. An OHZ brings together a community's leading stakeholders involved in children's health issues to respond to the #1 chronic childhood illness: pediatric dental disease. With a strong emphasis on education and prevention, the goal is to reverse the upward trend of the disease. "The goal of the Twin Cities' program is to integrate primary caries prevention into the menu of well-child care services so that child morbidity and healthcare costs decrease."
"The 3M Foundation is pleased to support this important initiative," said Alex Cirillo, vice president, 3M Foundation and Community Affairs. "The OHZ concept is clearly aligned with our health and human services giving goals of supporting youth development through prevention and intervention efforts, with a new emphasis on early childhood."
"Successful implementation of this program will provide valuable information regarding how to motivate primary pediatric care clinics and other child-related venues, e.g., Head Start/Early Head Start and WIC, to become involved in preventing childhood dental disease," said Fern Ingber, NCOHF president and CEO. "The program protocols include early referrals to available dental care providers. We are so grateful to the 3M Foundation for their generous support of this important initiative, which incorporates oral health strategies into well-child care to the benefit of many thousands of at-risk children."
This program is expected to expand access and participation in preventive oral health services for economically disadvantaged children in the Twin Cities area. Emphasizing education and prevention, the program will increase oral health literacy, increase the venues in which children receive preventive services (e.g., risk assessment, caregiver education, fluoride varnish and referrals), and reverse the upward trend of childhood dental disease.
Lessons learned will be incorporated prior to the implementation of similar OHZ initiatives in cities across the nation.
For more information about NCOHF, OHZs and/or how you can help prevent children's needless pain and suffering related to pediatric dental disease, call (704) 350-1600 or visit National Children's Oral Health Foundation.
To read more about the National Children's Oral Health Foundation, go to National Children's Oral Health Foundation.
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