Providing Oral Health Education to Underserved Children and Families within an Interdisciplinary Team

This paper outlines the background literature, needs assessment process, and project activities of a master’s project focused on oral health outcomes through use of an interprofessional team. The project activities were based on recommendations from current literatures, including interprofessional education and teaming, as well as family-centered education to promote positive oral health outcomes for young children and their families. Recommendations for future collaborations and the occupational therapy role within interprofessional oral health care teams are shared

An approach to developing oral health knowledge for allied health students

Background: Oral health competency-based education approaches have been proposed as a mechanism to address oral health outcomes and equity issues. Recommendations for oral health education for allied health professional students include practices to increase team members\u27 knowledge and skills in the integration of oral health and primary care practice (IOHPCP) initiative\u27s oral health clinical competencies for primary care providers.Aims: This study aimed to examine changes in self-reported knowledge of occupational therapy students in the topics of oral health, the dental profession, and the dental healthcare systems following participation in a series of webinars and a community-engaged learning project.Materials and Methods: This study utilized an oral health education program through webinars and a community-engaged learning project for occupational therapy students. Program evaluation measures were utilized to assess the oral health education activities through self-reported knowledge in oral health topics aligned with IOHPCP domains along with topics identified by the community partner organization.Results: Findings demonstrate that asynchronous webinars can increase self-reported knowledge in occupational therapy students.Discussion: Recommendations for inclusion of oral health education for allied health students related to knowledge of oral health, the dental profession, and dental healthcare systems are shared.Conclusions: Asynchronous webinars have the potential to increase self-reported oral health knowledge for allied health professionals