With the launch of Healthy People 2010 and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) strategic plan;goals to eliminate disparities in health and health care have been firmly placed on the national health agenda. To achieve these goals, the Institute of Medicine's Unequal Treatment report recommended that DHHS monitor progress toward the elimination of health care disparities. The report noted the relative paucity of research in health care disparities for non-African American minority groups. Dental caries and its complications are specifically targeted by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research's Plan to Eliminate Health Disparities. Despite significant advances in the understanding of the caries process and in the tools to prevent it, caries is still the most prevalent infectious disease among children, particularly minority and low-income children. Caries in preschool children, also known as Early Childhood Caries, is of particular concern given that its deleterious effects are seen later in life and its treatment requires specialized care even in the operating room under general anesthesia. Early Childhood Caries is the presence of 1 or more decayed (noncavitated or cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a child 71 months of age or younger. The overall goal of this mixed-method, community based participatory research project is to improve understanding of early childhood caries and barriers and facilitators for dental care services utilization among Latino and Ethiopian children and their mothers. There are four main aims of this project: 1) Identify knowledge, attitudes and behaviors relating to oral health among mothers who are main caregivers of 0-5 year old Latino and Ethiopian children attending an urban community health center, (2) Compare demographic and sociocultural characteristics of users and nonusers of dental services at an urban community health center, (3) Determine the rate of caries and risk markers (identified in Aims 1 and 2) for Latino, Ethiopian and other children 0-5 years of age and their main caregiver mothers who receive dental services, and (4) Provide train- the-trainer oral health education for personnel of an urban community health center. This project will provide needed information regarding oral health of Central/South American and Ethiopian immigrants, parents'attitudes and beliefs towards dental pain in young children, and maternal oral health knowledge, beliefs and attitudes. Information gained through this collaborative project will be used to plan oral health education efforts at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Washington DC (Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care), and other Central/South American and Ethiopian communities outside the DC area and support ancillary oral health studies for the NHLBI Hispanic Community Health Study, and a clinical trial planning grant.
Information on dental caries (the most common infectious disease among children);the use of dental services;and oral health knowledge, attitudes and behaviors will be gathered through focus groups, health interview surveys and dental examinations for 0-5 year old Latino and Ethiopian children and their main caregiver mothers attending an urban community health center. This information will be used to provide education on oral health to personnel of an urban community health center.
