PPC Panel Discuss First Dental Visit at NOHC
PPC Health Program researchers Raymond Kuthy and Natoshia Askelson, together with Donald Chi (University of Washington), presented the results of a study concerning the disparities in need, use, and behavioral factors associated with the time of a Medicaid-enrolled child’s first comprehensive dental exam at the National Oral Health Conference in Milwaukee, WI. The presentation, titled Age at First Dental Exam: Determinants, Maternal Behavioral Factors and the Role for CHCs, was facilitated by PPC Director Peter Damiano.
These presentations are part of a study funded by a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) Challenge grant to take a multifactorial view of this issue. The researchers discussed three components of the study: 1) the determinants of the age at which a child receives their first dental exam, including well child exams, 2) a review of care in community health centers, the populations served and the comprehensiveness of the care received, and 3) maternal knowledge and attitudes about the age at which children should receive their first dental exam.