Educational Strategies to Reduce Oral Health Disparities in Foster Children.
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In 2017, the United States provided foster care for approximately 691,000 children. During years in foster care, these children face significant deficits in medical and dental care. Foster children are known for having poor overall health, due to three main factors, poverty, abuse, and neglect. Early childhood caries (ECC) is a major oral health problem primarily in lower socioeconomic populations. With the lack of care and the increased prevalence of dental problems, the foster population can be classified as children with special health care needs. Some of the reasons foster children do not receive dental care could be that there is a shortage of dentists that are willing to accept Medicaid, the lack of federal funding for dental care, and the lack of health record keeping. Interviewees in one study felt the continuity of dental care for children in foster care was compromised due to their frequent moves throughout homes and in and out of the foster system. Disruptions in placement occur frequently within the foster care system, and are associated with a variety of maladaptive outcomes, and pose significant risks to foster children’s immediate and long-term well-being. A 21 day and night brush intervention placed in one school, resulted in a 25% increase in the number of school children brushing their teeth twice a day. A further 8% improvement after 6-12 months and improvements in DMFT/dmft. Further future studies should be performed with hygienists or hygiene students in schools or with hygienist-led training with social workers and teachers, to see if the prevalence of oral health disparities in foster children will decrease even more.
Subject
Foster ChildrenDental Caries
Reduce Oral Health Disparities
Oral Health Educational Program Implementation
Citation
McClure, Mallory Grace; Malone, Cassie Rochelle; Sauter, Kindal (2023). Educational Strategies to Reduce Oral Health Disparities in Foster Children.. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /200299.