Clinical Pediatrics

Community dental health coordinators (CDHC) are dental professionals who fill an important role of interacting with populations who are at risk for dental disease, and do not know how to access a dental care program, or stop tooth decay at the very start. CDHCs can perform clinical preventive services and community-based outreach duties but also help families know which dental services are needed, how to schedule appointments and arranging transportation for those appointments. CDHC trained individuals can manage behaviors that frequently accompany dental treatment such as fear and anxiety. By carefully explaining how dental disease begins and the various ways to treat it, parents gain understanding of their important role in safeguarding their child’s oral health. CDHCs address upstream determinants of poverty to assist clinicians in oral health integration within a child’s overall treatment plan. CDHC also encourage regular oral health services for special populations such as pregnant women, teething infants, and diabetics. Family centered optimal oral health helps build healthy populations! The audience will understand the value of this program, developed by the American Dental Association in 2007, to their quality clinical outcomes, how this program could begin in their area, the online educational modules necessary to complete this program and the key aspects of dental case management to reduce untreated dental disease in their communities.