National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center logo
left navigational image with links

Oral Health for Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women
Knowledge Path

January 2009

Table of Contents

Introduction

Resources for Professionals

Resources for Consumers

Resources on Specific Aspects of Oral Health

Please provide feedback on this knowledge path.

Introduction

This knowledge path about oral health for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women has been compiled by the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) and the Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at improving access to oral health care and quality of oral health for infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women. A separate section lists resources for consumers. The final part of the knowledge path presents resources on specific aspects of oral health: child care and Head Start, dental sealants, early childhood caries (ECC), fluoride varnish, K-12 education, pregnancy, school-based care, school evaluation mandates, and special health care needs. This knowledge path is designed for health professionals, program administrators, educators, policymakers, and consumers, and it will be updated annually.

Related knowledge path topics: See Health insurance and access to care for children and adolescents.

Back to Top

Resources for Professionals

Overview

For many Americans, oral health status has improved during the last two decades. However, although oral disease has declined significantly among school-age children, dental caries remains the most prevalent chronic disease of childhood, and among children ages 2-5, the incidence of dental caries in the primary teeth has increased. Children and adolescents with special health care needs, as well as those from certain racial and ethnic groups, experience disproportionately high incidences of oral disease.

To help ensure optimal oral health status, it is imperative that oral health promotion, oral disease prevention, and oral health care be a part of local, state, and national health policy agendas. Policies are needed that better integrate oral health and systemic health; increase access to health-promotion activities, preventive care, and treatment; and reduce financial and other barriers to care. In particular, policies must address oral health concerns and unmet treatment needs, especially among vulnerable populations.

Back to Top

Web Sites of National Organizations

Additional Resources from National Organizations

Web Sites of State Organizations

Additional Resources from State Organizations

Distance Learning Resources

Databases

The databases listed below are excellent tools for identifying data, additional literature and research, and programs about oral health and infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women. Many of the entries below contain tips on how to use the databases efficiently. Please note that databases vary in how terms should be entered; for example, some require quotation marks and others don't. Enter search phrases as shown in bold below.

Data
  • Childstats.gov. Presents statistics and reports about children and families, including population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior, social environment, and education. Includes statistics about oral health. ChildStats.gov is a service of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. The Forum's annual report, America's children: Key national indicators of well-being, details the status of children and families in the United States.

  • Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI). Presents county-specific data on health status indicators obtained from a variety of federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Census Bureau, and the Department of Labor. Use the indicators to compare a county with counties similar in population composition and selected demographics and to characterize