Oral Health Intervention: A Multifaceted Approach to Improve Oral Health Care during Pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction: Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is the most common chronic disease of childhood Mothers’ oral health status is a strong predictor of the oral health status of their children 2009: Vermont spends $2.7 million treating children ages 0-5 with Early Childhood Caries 2012: Vermont lifts the$495 Medicaid cap on reimbursement for a woman’s dental care during pregnancy and up to 60 days after delivery American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) Guidelines on prenatal dental care are published 2013: 74% of surveyed Vermont providers treating pregnant women are unaware of the Medicaid change 82% of these providers are not using guidelines to assess oral health during pregnancy Objective: To improve prenatal dental referral rates from obstetric providers by facilitating Vermont-specific implementation of ACOG guidelineshttps://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1212/thumbnail.jp