New Infant Program

College Begins Infant Oral Health Program

In the United States, dental caries is the most common chronic infectious disease of children—more than one in four children have caries before they start kindergarten. Left untreated, caries in children can progress to toothaches and infections and may compromise a child’s health, development and quality of life. While dental caries is preventable, a recent national survey conducted on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry revealed that only 26 percent of U.S. parents took their children to the dentist by their first birthday, the age recommended by the AAPD and the American Dental Association. While 96% of parents say oral health is important for their children, many do not think toothaches are a serious ailment, with 31% ranking toothaches as the least serious ailment compared to upset stomachs, earaches, headaches and sore throats. That thinking may be one of the many reasons why early childhood caries is quite common in Oklahoma, particularly in non-fluoridated rural areas of the state.

In order to aid the process of decreasing early childhood caries in Oklahoma, and to provide graduating dentists from the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry with the knowledge and experience to assist in this effort, the OUCOD Division of Pediatric Dentistry started an Infant Oral Health Clinic in the summer of 2018. Infants and toddlers from 1 to 3 years of age are now being scheduled in the OU College of Dentistry Pediatric Dental Clinic so that dental students gain hands-on experience and skills in examining, diagnosing and treating very young children. Under pediatric dentistry faculty supervision, dental students conduct oral health evaluations, provide preventive treatments, and counsel parents, providing them with infant/toddler oral health prevention strategies and education. Parents are taught how and when to effectively brush and floss their children’s teeth and are provided with a comprehensive caries prevention plan. In the event that the child has caries, the parent is provided with treatment options, such as applying fluoride varnish or silver diamine fluoride to the lesions with frequent re-evaluations to determine the effectiveness of the treatment and/or referring the child for definitive restorative care.

According to Dr. Tim Fagan, clinical professor and head of the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, the program is considered a win-win situation for both the community-at-large and the College of Dentistry. “The community benefits because this is a low-cost program that teaches parents preventive measures and care to raise their infants and toddlers to have a healthy mouth and teeth,” Dr. Fagan said.

“The program provides oral health education to prevent dental problems and parents leave more informed on how to do so with their kids. The earlier the dental visit, the better the chance there is in preventing dental problems. It is hoped that ultimately the community will benefit via a reduction in the occurrence of early childhood dental caries and less expenditures on dental restorative costs.”

Students participating in this program benefit by actual hands-on experience with infants and toddlers. “In the past, the students have received lectures about infant oral health care, but this program, for the first time, allows the students an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in lectures with an actual infant or toddler,” Dr. Fagan said. “Plus, it allows for ‘one-stop’ service where a parent can get all the dental treatment their children might need at one convenient location.”

An objective of the program is for every OUCOD graduating dentist to leave with the skills and expertise to effectively provide this service wherever they practice. As more dentists with this skill set spread across the state and help parents prevent dental problems in their infants and toddlers, it is hoped that Oklahoma will experience a reduction in the occurrence of early childhood caries within the state. As this program grows, plans are to incorporate dental hygiene students in the “preventive” portion of the program so that they too will feel comfortable working with infants and toddlers and their parents upon graduation. Eventually, medical students and residents might also rotate through the program to learn dental preventive skills, so as to counsel the parents of the infants and toddlers that they will see in their medical practices.