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 Children
who have a dental home are more likely
to receive appropriate preventive
and routine care.
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Children who have a dental home are
more likely to receive appropriate preventive and
routine care. The concept of the “dental home”
is derived from the American Academy of Pediatrics’
concept of the “medical home.” This concept
states that the care of infants and children ideally
should be accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family
centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally
effective. The child’s first visit establishes
the dental home. This provides the opportunity to
implement preventive health practices and reduces
the child’s risk for preventable oral disease.[13],[14]
A dental home should be able to provide
the following:[13]
- An accurate risk assessment for oral diseases
and conditions
- An individualized preventive dental health program
based on risk assessment
- Anticipatory guidance about growth and development
issues (e.g., tooth
eruption; thumb, finger, or pacifier habits;
feeding practices)
- A plan for emergency dental trauma
- Information about proper care of the infant’s
or child’s teeth and soft tissues
- Information about proper nutrition and dietary
practices
- Comprehensive dental care in accordance with accepted
guidelines and periodicity schedules for pediatric
dental health
- Referrals to, coordination of, and follow-up for
other dental specialists, such as endodontists,
oral surgeons, orthodontists, and periodontists,
when care cannot be provided directly within the
dental home
If the child does not have a dental
home, help parents obtain a source of care by doing
the following:
- Provide a referral to a dentist who has experience
in treating infants and young children with special
health care needs. Contact your local dental society,
pediatric dental society or national organizations
for a list of dentists in your community. The following
national organizations may be helpful in locating
dentists in your community:
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
211 East Chicago Avenue, Suite 700
Chicago, IL 60611-2663
(312) 337-2169
www.aapd.org
American Dental Association
211 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-2678
(312) 440-2500
www.ada.org
National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped
1800 15th Street, Suite 100
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 534-5360
www.nfdh.org
Special Care Dentistry
211 East Chicago Avenue, Suite 740
Chicago, IL 60611-2616
(312) 440-2660
www.scdonline.org
- Work with local agencies to determine an infant’s
or child’s eligibility for public assistance
programs such as Medicaid or the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program or other sources of funding
for oral health care, and help families enroll in
these programs or obtain such funding.
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