Office of Oral Health (OOH)
Title V Action Plan Development for 2020-2024
Priority – Promote high quality maternal care with a focus on patient centered and trauma informed models.
NPM or SPM– NPM13.1 Preventive dental visit for pregnant women.
Objectives:
- By the end of 2022, increase by 10% the number of pregnant women who have had a dental visit during pregnancy.
- By the end of 2022 increase by 10% the number of pregnant women enrolled in home visiting programs who have had at least one oral health class promoting oral health, hygiene and the importance of dental visits.
- By the end 2022 conduct at least one state wide Public Service Announcement (PSA) promoting oral health among pregnant women via TV, and other social media avenues, or radio (English/Spanish).
Narrative:
Oral health is an essential component of primary care, and it has been identified as a significant contributor to overall health. Oral health has an enormous impact on the quality of life of pregnant women and their infants. However, oral disease, such as dental caries and gum disease, continue to be the most common chronic diseases among adults and children, despite being preventable conditions.
Pregnant women are more susceptible to oral disease, which can lead to other poor health outcomes. Pregnant women can be at higher risk for dental caries and periodontal disease due to changes in eating habits and behaviors. Also, a mother with untreated dental caries can transmit the infection to her newborn baby. Early contact with these bacteria, high sugar consumption, and giving and infant or toddler a bottle in bed can lead to early childhood caries (ECC).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), improving a pregnant women’s oral health can prevent dental caries in young children. Children of mothers who have high levels of untreated dental caries or tooth loss are more than 3 times more likely to have cavities as a child. Therefore, oral health must be considered an important part of prenatal care.
Consequently, it is important to include oral health into maternal care, to enhance oral health and overall health outcomes of the mother and the baby.
Enhancing oral health literacy increases knowledge and understanding about the importance of oral health and its impact on overall health during this important stage of a woman’s life. Moreover, including oral health as a part of prenatal care can lead to an increase in the number of dental visits by pregnant women, decreasing the incidence of dental caries among women, EEC among infants and tooth decay among school aged children.
Strategies:
- Partner with Human Services Department (HSD) to advocate for the inclusion of dental health visits to promote oral health, prevention and treatment into maternal care during pregnancy and 12 months after delivery, to enhance oral health overall health.
ESM: # of pregnant women in Medicaid population receiving at least one dental visit within the last year.
- Require state contractors to provide oral health preventive and treatment services to women during pregnancy and twelve months after delivery.
ESM: # of pregnant women who received preventive and/or dental treatment during the last year by state contractors.
- Promote the importance oral health and general health among pregnant women through state wide oral health PSAs, oral health community events and home visiting programs.
ESM: # of PSA promoting the importance of oral health and general health targeting pregnant women
ESM: # pregnant women who received oral health education at community events
ESM: # of pregnant women who received oral health education during home visiting pragmas.
- Partner with the NM School Health Alliance, the NM Office of School and Adolescent Program to promote oral health among teenage women who are pregnant. Offer preventive services at school health clinics or via school linked dental programs such as fluoride varnish, dental sealants, Silver Diamine and dental provider referrals.
ESM: # of pregnant teenagers receiving oral health education in school health clinics
ESM: # of preventive services and dental case management provided in school health clinics
- Promote recommended oral health practices and knowledge about prenatal dental care among NM WIC clients.
ESM: # of oral health education classes provided by state office of oral health staff to WIC clients within the last year.
- Partner with NM organizations whose organizational goal is to improve the overall health of pregnant women and their children and conduct oral health education classes. Provide take home educational material for these individuals.
ESM: # of organizations who partnered with the office of oral health to deliver oral health preventive interventions to pregnant woman within the last year.
ESM: # of women who attended oral health classes provided by partner organizations.
ESM: # of women who received oral health educational materials in the last year.
- Deliver Public Service Announcements via television, radio, Facebook, Twitter promoting the importance of oral health and overall health.
ESM: # of PSA promoting oral health and overall health delivered targeting pregnant women in the last year.
Priority # 2: Expand access to preventive oral health care for children and adolescents including those with special health care needs by the end of 2022.
NPM or SPM – NPM13.2 Preventive dental visits for children and adolescents, ages 1 to 17.
Objective # 1: By the end of 2024, decrease in 10% the incidence of untreated dental caries among school aged children and children with special needs.
Objective # 2: By the end of 2024 increase in 10% the number of children aged 2 to 17 enrolled in the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic treatment program (EPSDT).
Objective # 3: By the end of 2024, increase in 10% the number of children who received a dental sealant or fluoride varnish application through the Office of Oral Health.
Objective # 4: By the end of 2024, increase in 10% the number of preventive dental visits among children with special needs who do not have a dental home.
Narrative:
Tooth decay is the most common disease in the United States and it is the primary cause of tooth loss through young adulthood. According to CDC: “Children with poor oral health status are nearly 3 times more likely to miss school because of dental pain”.
Although the prevalence of dental caries has decreased from 1980 to 2016, data continue showing dental caries as the most common chronic disease among youth 6-19 years old. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that in 1980, by age 11, more than 75% of children had experienced dental caries, with an average of 2.7 primary teeth decayed and 1.7 permanent teeth decayed. Data reported by CDC in 2016, states that the prevalence of dental caries increases with age and continue showing dental caries as the most common chronic disease among youth aged 6-19 years old, with 45% of children 2 -19-year-old having one or more tooth decay during their life, and an average of 13% of children with untreated tooth decay.
Periodontal disease is a chronic condition that progresses with age, and if not treated properly becomes one of the leading causes of tooth loss. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), gum disease or periodontal disease, varies with age and oral hygiene and it can be present at a young age. Gum inflammation, (gingivitis) is primarily associated with tooth eruption in children 6-11 years old.
Despite significant improvements in the oral health of American children, the situation has not improved in recent years for the most vulnerable populations. Oral health programs and partners need to continue to promote oral health and provide preventive services to children and adolescents.
OOH provides preventive care to early head start, head start, preschool and school-aged children throughout New Mexico in urban/rural schools. Preventive care includes oral health promotion and education, dental screenings, sealants, fluoride varnish and dental health case management, securing a dental home and a treatment for uninsured and low-income children. OOH also provides funding to the University of New Mexico, and private oral health providers to deliver dental treatments and prevention at no cost to low income and uninsured children and pregnant women. OOH is improving overall health and oral health literacy for New Mexicans through social media campaigns in TV, radio and internet. Additionally, the OOH is working to promote fluoridated water consumption among Albuquerque and Santa Fe residents.
OOH will continue to conduct the mobile prevention program by providing oral health education and preventive services, such as dental sealant and fluoride varnish through school linked program services throughout the state. OOH will renew oral health contract with providers to provide oral health preventive and treatment services to uninsured school aged children, pregnant women and children with disabilities. OOH will also promote oral health via PSA’s statewide. OOH will also work closely with local and national organizations to improve the oral health status of the state’s pre-school and school aged children.
Strategies:
- Partner with state oral health contractors to expand access to preventive oral health care for children and youth, including those with special health care needs.
ESM: # of children who had at least one screening during the past year.
ESM: # of children who received at least one dental sealant in a permanent tooth in the last year.
ESM: # of children who received an application of fluoride varnish three times a
year.
ESM: # of special needs children who had at least one dental visit during the last year.
ESM: # of special needs children who received at least one sealant in permanent teeth during the last year.
ESM: # of children with special needs who received topical fluoride at least one time in the last year.
- Implement mandatory dental screening visits for school aged children.
ESM: # of children participating in a dental screening in the last year.
ESM: # of children with untreated dental caries/total # of children 1 to 17 years of age.
- Partner with the Human Services Department to promote oral heath among Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and treatment (EPSDT) population and providers.
ESM: Execute a memorandum of understanding between DOH and HSD division to collect the # of children 1 to 18 years old who participated in the EPSDT during the past year.
- Reintroduce oral health education and preventive services to Head Start, other pre-school aged children, and elementary school aged children.
ESM: # of children who received oral health education in the past year.
ESM: # of families who received oral health education in the last year.
- Convene a special needs child task force to assess current referral services available to the targeted population.
ESM: # of Special Needs Task Force meetings in the last year.
ESM: # of referrals to oral health services given to children with special needs.
- Conduct PSA’s promoting oral health, oral hygiene, healthy eating, and consumption of tap drinking water during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic while students are not in school or participating in alternative school schedules.
ESM: # of PSA produced and released promoting oral health among children and those with special needs per year.
ESM: # of PSAs produced and released promoting proper oral health habits to maintain a good oral health during the pandemic.
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