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NYU College of Dentistry researchers awarded grant for children’s dental health

Professor Jill Fernandez, co-investigator of the study, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatric Dentistry and Director of Pediatric Outreach Programs from the College of Dentistry. (DTI/Photo NYU College of Dentistry)
NYU College of Dentistry

NYU College of Dentistry

Mon. 14 June 2010

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NEW YORK, NY, USA: New York University Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing researchers were awarded a US$5K grant from the American Dental Association’s Samuel D. Harris Fund for Children’s Dental Health Grants Program. In their grant proposal, the researchers note that Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is the most prevalent unmet healthcare need among children 71 months old or younger, with significant health disparities in oral health care for children below five years old. Untreated dental caries among African-American children six to eight years of age was 36 per cent, and for Hispanic children untreated dental caries was 43 per cent as compared to white children who are at 26 per cent.

To effectively combat this national epidemic, the researchers are proposing an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to the education of parents of newborns prior to hospital discharge.

“Our interdisciplinary team will consist of paediatric dentists, paediatric residents and general dental students at New York University College of Dentistry working collaboratively with newborn and paediatric nurses, paediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) and PNP students from New York University College of Nursing at the College of Dentistry,” said Dr Lim, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatric Dentistry and Director of the Advanced Program for International Dentists in Pediatric Dentistry. “This project will introduce newborn and paediatric practicing nurses to interdisciplinary educational strategies for implementation on the postpartum unit for parents of newborns to reduce the incidence of ECC,” she said.

The 16-month project begins with the implementation of an interdisciplinary and culturally sensitive oral health educational programme for parents of newborns. Follow-up assessments of the health status of the infants will be performed to determine the impact of the educational program at six and twelve months. Lastly, the researchers will be assessing the impact of the educational programme by the number of parents who have established a dental home by the infant’s first birthday.

The researchers anticipate enrolling at least 30 mothers each week with a total population of 180 infants in the control group and 180 infants in the intervention group. They anticipate that the total educational programme will reach around 5,000 parents of newborns and about 200 infants who were in the in-patient paediatric unit over the one-year time frame.

(Edited by Claudia Salwiczek, DTI)

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