Primary care pediatric clinicians could influence parents’ decisions to take their children to the dentist, according to a new clinical trial in the US.
In a study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio showed that children’s dental visits increased when providers were trained to talk to parents about oral health, perform quick oral exams and provide dental referrals during annual medical check-ups.
The research found that improving dental attendance by children receiving services through public health insurance provider Medicaid could help reduce untreated tooth decay and oral health disparities in communities experiencing disadvantage.
Among preschool-aged children from lower-income households, 17 per cent have untreated cavities in their baby teeth—three times that of children from higher-income families, according to the NIDCR. Also, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children have even higher rates of untreated tooth decay, compared to non-Hispanic white children.
“Since children from all backgrounds go to well-care visits, we thought we’d use these check-ups as opportunities,” Dr Suchitra Nelson said.
“By having primary care providers address dental and oral health care, it sends a powerful message to parents on the importance of following up with a dentist.”
For the study, the team provided 63 pediatric clinicians with oral health-related education and skills training, including looking for white or brown spots on children’s teeth, noting findings in the electronic health record, providing a referral to a dentist and talking to parents about oral health.
The providers also received a list of local dentists who accepted Medicaid to whom they could refer families. The trial followed 1023 children enrolled in Medicaid and their parents over three years. About half the children received a typical medical wellness visit and the other half received the oral health intervention during their annual wellness appointment.
By the third-year wellness visit, 52 per cent of the children in the intervention group had visited a dentist, compared to 43 per cent in the control group. This means that the children in the intervention group were 34 per cent more likely to visit the dentist than children in the control group.
By the end of the study, the intervention group trended toward having fewer untreated decayed teeth than the control group.
