Why Oral Health?

Tooth decay is the most common preventable childhood disease in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), tooth decay in primary, or baby, teeth increased among children aged 2 to 5 years, even though they are seeing small improvements in all other age groups. Left untreated, the pain and infection caused by dental decay can cause a variety of problems for child children:

• Difficulty in eating
• Inability to sleep well
• Unable to focus and distracted easily making learning difficult
• Early tooth loss can affect both speech patterns and the amount of space needed for permanent teeth to erupt.

All of these challenges have a negative impact on how a child feels about themselves and the way they look as well as how they may behave.

Oral health care is a critical component of health care and must be included in the design of community programs.  Head Start and Early Head Start are examples of programs that provide medical, dental, and nutritional screening, assessment, and referral, and seek to provide every child with the learning experiences necessary to succeed in school. Here in Kansas, we are beginning to see many great improvements in oral health care access and education. Below we have listed a few of the oral health initiatives specific to children that are currently underway:

KANSAS ORAL HEALTH PLAN -This plan, created by the Office of Oral Health, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is a framework of oral health programming intended to create a unified vision for improved oral health outcomes across the state. It represents the work of many diverse community and state stakeholders. There is an entire section devoted to children's oral health, some specific to the Head Start community. It lists the objective, strategies, action plans and timelines for a variety of issues related to improving children's oral health.

KANSAS CAVITY FREE KIDS - Created by the Kansas Head Start Association and funded by Delta Dental Foundation and United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, KCFK is a state-wide oral health program targeting pregnant women and children ages 0-5.  KCFK is creating a network of children's oral health services connecting early learning programs, safety net clinics, Extended Care Permit (ECP) dental hygienists and community dentists into a system of care for young children who are at high risk for oral disease.

PROJECT READY SMILE- The REACH Healthcare Foundation and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City are partners on Project Ready Smile LLC, an initiative to improve the oral health of children ages birth to six that aims to help children arrive for kindergarten with healthy teeth and mouths. The project is working with early childhood programs in the Foundations' shared service area, which encompasses Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri, and Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.

CHILREN WITH SPECIAL HEALTH CARE NEEDS - The Kansas Office of Oral Health has partnered with GraceMed Dental Clinic (Wichita) and Oral Health Kansas to improve access to oral health care for Kansas children and youth with special health care needs.  GraceMed has established a dental clinic for children and youth need specialized care.  Five dental hygienists at Oral Health Kansas serve as regional parent oral health educators.  They provide workshops, counseling, and newsletter articles to support parents, caregivers, teachers, theapists, and health care providers on the variety of ways to keep children and youth free from oral disease. 

HEAD START DENTAL HOME INITIATIVE - This is a nation- wide initiative and is being piloted in limited states.  Kansas will be included in this process some time in the future. AAPD and Head Start are partnering at the national, regional, state, and local level to develop a network of dentists to link Head Start Children with dental homes. A network of pediatric dentists and general dentists will be created to provide quality dental homes for Head Start (HS) and Early Head Start (EHS) children; train teams of dentists and HS personnel in optimal oral health care practices; and assist HS programs in obtaining comprehensive services to meet the full range of HS children's oral health needs.