ORAL HEALTH CARE TRAINING AMONG GRADUATING PEDIATRIC RESIDENTS Gretchen Caspary, Suzanne Boulter, Martha Ann Keels, David Krol, Giusy Romano-Clarke.. Research, AAP, Elk Grove Village, IL; Concord Family Practice, Concord, NH; Pediatric Dentistry, Duke Univ, Durham, NC; Pediatrics, Univ of Toledo, Toledo, OH; Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, Dorchester, MA.   Presented at the 2007 Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting.

Background: There is a lack of access to preventive and restorative oral health services for American children. Some propose that pediatricians be trained to deliver preventive screening and education to families and to refer patients to a dental home.

Objective: Evaluate the oral health training pediatricians receive during residency and their attitudes toward performing basic oral health assessments.

Design/Methods: The 2006 AAP Graduating Residents Survey examined oral health. Of 1000 randomly selected residents, 611 (61%) responded. A 7-item scale (α=.63) of attitudes about pediatricians' roles in oral health assessment was the main dependent variable examined in a multiple regression analysis.

Results: 32% of respondents received no oral health care training during residency. Of those who did, 75% had < 3 hours of training, and only 14% had clinical observation time with a dentist. Overall, 71% felt they had too little oral health care training, and respondents described their assessment skills as being "fair or poor" on several measures, including 59% for identifying enamel demineralization, 42% for identifying plaque, 25% for identifying teeth with cavities, and 22% for informing patients on how to brush correctly.

Half (52%) are interested in an oral health CME, rising to 64% among those entering general pediatric practice (p<.001). The majority also believe that pediatricians should conduct basic oral health assessments, including identifying teeth with cavities (89%), informing patients on how to brush correctly (86%), and identifying enamel demineralization (67%) and plaque (64%).

Multiple regression analysis on the 7-item scale indicated that under-represented minority residents (β=.800, p=.010) and those applying for jobs in the inner city (β=.541, p=.016) were especially interested in performing oral health assessments. Program size, age, and gender were not significant predictors.

Conclusions: Pediatric residents currently receive little training in oral health assessments, and the majority wished for more. Most support pediatricians doing some oral health assessments.