Ensure the Oral Health of Children
Dental hygienists play a valuable role in Head Start programs by providing preventive services and oral health education.
Head Start was established in 1965 as a means “to help break the cycle of poverty, providing young children from families with low income a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.”1 More than 80% of the children Head Start serves are ages 3 and 4.2 In 1995, Early Head Start was created to provide comprehensive services to pregnant women, infants, and toddlers up to age 3.2 Early Head Start and Head Start are federal programs administered by the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services.1,3 Head Start serves families with incomes below the federal poverty level (FPL). For 2015, the FPL is $24,250 for a family of four.4 Head Start health services are founded on the premise that: “a child must be healthy to be ready to learn.”5 Good oral health is essential to a child’s behavioral, speech, language, and overall growth and development.5 Children enrolled in Head Start have higher rates of dental caries than children from families with higher incomes.5 Early Head Start and Head Start programs serve more than 1 million children every year.
ROLE OF THE DENTAL HYGIENIST
Dental hygienists who work in Head Start programs are giving back to their communities and gaining access to an alternative practice setting. They can administer oral health screenings and preventive services; provide oral health education to staff, families, and children; offer referrals for restorative care; and help find dental homes for children to ensure follow-up care is available.5 Dental hygienists working in Head Start programs enjoy flexibility in scheduling and a readily available supply of patients. For dental hygienists who live in one of the 37 states that allow dental hygienists to have direct access to patients, Head Start can be a great career choice.
In addition to providing direct care to patients, dental hygienists can serve on Head Start advisory committees, assisting in the development of oral health policies and procedures and supporting efforts to increase access to care by identifying sources where Head Start participants can obtain oral health care.5 Dental hygienists, local affiliates, or state associations can also “adopt” a Head Start center in their community by contacting program health coordinators.
OUTREACH EFFORTS
Since 2012, dental hygienists working in conjunction with the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, the Office of Head Start, and the National Center on Health (NCH) have served as dental hygiene liaisons for each of the 50 states.6 These volunteers serve as communication links between NCH and Head Start agencies; collaborate with state organizations, state oral health programs, and Head Start offices and associations to address prevention and access-to-care issues; promote information on evidence-based preventive and educational services; and share links to resources with Head Start and their partners to increase consistency in oral health messaging.6
In 2014, the Virginia Dental Hygienists’ Association launched its public health initiative, “Adopt a Head Start,” in which it partnered with the Virginia Head Start Association and the Virginia Department of Health to increase access to preventive oral health care.7
Since 2004, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Department of Dental Hygiene has operated the Urban Smiles program.8 Through the use of mobile dental units, the program enables students and faculty to provide preventive services to underserved children. In the 2006-2007 academic year, more than 1,600 children received preventive oral health services in Shelby County Head Start programs and schools.9
Ensuring that children understand the importance of good oral health at a young age can help decrease the risk of caries—the most common chronic childhood disease.10 This, in turn, improves children’s quality of life, as well as their ability to learn and succeed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank her mother, Donna Howerton—a Head Start instructor for 23 years—for her commitment and dedication to her students and to Head Start.
REFERENCES
- Office of Head Start. History of Head Start. Available at: acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/about/history-of-head-start. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- Office of Head Start. Head Start Services. Available at: acf.hhs.gov/programs/ohs/about/head-start. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- Office of Head Start. Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2014. Available at: eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/data/factsheets/2014-hs-program-factsheet.html. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. 2015 Poverty Guidelines. Available at: aspe.hhs.gov/2015-poverty-guidelines. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- Clark M, Holt K. Dental Hygienists and Head Start: What You Should Know and How You Can Help. Washington, DC: National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center; 2008.
- National Center on Health. Summary of Head Start Dental Hygienist Liaisons Impact Assessment: Full Report. Elk Grove Village, Illinois: National Center on Health; 2015.
- Virginia Dental Hygienists’ Association. Adopt a Head Start. Available at: vdha.net/head-start. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- Daniel S. Dental Hygienists’ and Dentists’ Clinical and Teledentistry Screenings for Dental Caries in Urban School Children. Jackson, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Medical Center; 2013.
- The University of Tennessee Health Science Center. About Public Service. Available at: uthsc.edu/communications-marketing/campus-publications/fact-sheets/documents/public-service-factsheet.pdf. Accessed September 24, 2015.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hygiene-Related Diseases. Available at: cdc.gov/healthywater/hygiene/disease/dental_caries.html. Accessed September 24, 2015.
From Perspectives on the Midlevel Practitioner, a supplement to Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. October 2015;12(10):46–45.
