A chapter goal is to ensure medical, mental health, and dental insurance for all children in the state. Activities to improve patient care include a dental evaluation and care in pediatricians' offices. The chapter also seeks to implement policy statement suggestions that all children in foster care need to receive initial health screenings and comprehensive assessments of their medical, mental, dental health, and developmental status.
Chapter Activities Chapter representatives currently serve on the state's
Oral Health Steering Committee and the Oral Health Task Force. The chapter is also active in the state's "Watch Your Mouth Campaign," having collaborated with this project to explore ways of informing pediatricians that Medicaid is providing reimbursement for pediatric fluoride varnish services.
Other collaborations include developing a paper on oral health entitled "A State of Decay" with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and advocating with the Forsyth Institute for dental health services and the potential of introducing some of these activities into pediatric health practice.
Children's dental health has also been identified as a possible CME program.
Getting to Kids Before The Tooth Fairy
The Massachusetts Dental Society wants to take a look at children's teeth before they start losing them. The society is calling for mandatory dental exams for children entering kindergarten as part of a campaign linking oral health to overall health.
If the bill is approved, the dental society would work with the state Department of Education and local school districts to implement the exams. (7/16/09)
Training Clinicians Helps Reduce Rates of Early Childhood Cavities
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have found that pediatricians provided with the proper communication, educational and information technology tools, and training could reduce the rates of children developing early childhood caries or cavities by 77%. (9/29/09)
