FIRST VISIT by FIRST BIRTHDAY
Rita Salman, RDH, BS
Vice-president, 2001-2002
The mission of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association and the Louisiana Dental Hygienists’Association, is "to improve the public’s total health, ensure access to quality oral health care, increase awareness of the cost-effective benefits of prevention and promote the highest standards of dental hygiene." This sounds like a large job for us to implement. NOT SO!! The new community service program, FIRST VISIT by FIRST BIRTHDAY, which I have developed for LDHA, will meet these requirements.
This pediatric dental program was inspired by a conference I attended where I heard Gregory L. Psaltis, D.D.S. speak. As a board member of the Louisiana State Dental Hygienists’ Association, I was trying to follow the Vision, Mission, Purpose, and Goal of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association as well as the Louisiana Dental Hygienists’ Association. The message, "ensuring access to quality oral health care" kept sounding in my head. Louisiana usually does not rank high in health care. After much thinking, researching, and talking with other hygienists and friends, I decided to do something to educate new parents about their child’s dental health. As I know from experience, being a parent is a hard job. There are no community schools, colleges, or universities offering a degree in Good Parenting. It is "on-the-job training" and first time parents do not usually have the wisdom of experience and age.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that tooth decay is still one of the most common diseases in children. Having a child present in a dental office in pain is a heart-wrenching scene for all concerned. The parent does not want to see the child hurting and neither does the dental team. Parents are usually bewildered as to how their child could be in this condition. If the parents were provided early with sufficient information, the painful episode might be prevented. Education about oral hygiene should begin with the appearance of the
first tooth.
Through free dental consults in a pediatric dentist’s office by a hygienist or trained dental professional followed by appropriate home care and check-ups, children’s oral health and overall health will improve. The consult will include nutrition and oral hygiene information and a chance for new parents to ask questions about their child’s teeth. At this time, the importance of baby teeth as well as the importance of regular check-ups will be explained.
First Visit by First Birthday will be implemented throughout the state of Louisiana and, hopefully, throughout the nation by dental hygienists. Dental hygiene component presidents are bringing this program to their cities. There are fifty-four pediatric dentists in Louisiana and they have been invited to participate in this community service program for their area. A letter to parents inviting them to bring their child to a pediatric dentist for this free service will be distributed at hospitals, doctors’ offices, day care centers and other places. The dentists who will participate are listed on the reverse of the parents' letter.
The dental profession has educated the public about many health issues, but the importance of infant and children’s dental health requirements has not been properly addressed until recently. With this free program, two caregivers of a child under a year will be educated about the importance of baby teeth and how to take care of them with cleaning and proper nutrition. I hope to encourage a paradigm shift with First Visit by First Birthday and implement standards for following the guidelines of pediatric dentistry. Early prevention will hopefully create healthier children and help Louisiana meet the requirements for Healthy People 2010.
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