Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry officially recommend that children--especially minority and underserved populations at high risk for tooth decay-have their first visit to the dentist at 12 months or within 6 months after the eruption of the their first tooth. While the recommendation is meritorious, in focusing solely on the child it fails to acknowledge the critical role of the mother. If the mother receives care, the child benefits both from a biological perspective (preventing or postponing infection of the child) and because anticipatory guidance is important for establishing attitudes and beliefs regarding the importance of baby teeth and the need for year one visit. Not more than one or two percent of children now receive a year one visit. This research proposes to conduct secondary analyses of a dataset from the Oregon Care Provider Study in order to: 1. Determine the diffusion of anticipatory guidance to pregnant women on ECC transmission among general dentists;2. Compare the personal and practice characteristics of dentists who usually provide anticipatory guidance on ECC to pregnant women in their practices and those who do not;3. Determine whether local dentist supply and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with dentist provision of anticipatory guidance on ECC to pregnant women. The dataset was constructed from the results of a 2006-2007 survey under a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA, and carried out in collaboration with the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center at Washington State University. The mail survey of all 1,604 general dentists in Oregon was done with a primary purpose to study dentists'attitudes, beliefs and practices regarding dental care for pregnant women. The research will be conducted within the Northwest Center to Reduce Oral Health Disparities. The Center is a multidisciplinary research unit at the University of Washington addressing the maternal and child oral health and health disparities.
The investigators propose a secondary analysis of dentist survey data from the State of Oregon regarding dental care for pregnant women and their offspring in order to better understand diffusion of primary prevention and anticipatory guidance for Early Childhood Caries.
| Chi, Donald L; Milgrom, Peter; Carle, Adam C et al. (2014) Multilevel factors associated with dentists' counseling of pregnant women about periodontal health. Spec Care Dentist 34:2-6 |
| Chi, Donald L (2014) Caregivers who refuse preventive care for their children: the relationship between immunization and topical fluoride refusal. Am J Public Health 104:1327-33 |
| Milgrom, Peter; Huebner, Colleen E; Mancl, Lloyd A et al. (2013) County-level characteristics as predictors of dentists' ECC counseling in the USA: a survey study. BMC Oral Health 13:23 |
