Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement Initiative

To reduce the prevalence of oral disease in pregnant women and infants at high risk for oral disease through improved access to and utilization of high-quality oral health care, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau funded the Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement (PIOHQI) initiative from 2013 through 2019.

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau–Funded Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement (PIOHQI) Initiative 2013–2019: Final Report describes the significance of oral health care throughout pregnancy and infancy, provides an overview of the PIOHQI initiative, details the project’s strategies to improve perinatal and infant oral health, and highlights efforts to support the PIOHQI projects.

The PIOHQI projects worked toward:

Increasing pregnant women’s utilization of preventive oral health care.
Increasing the percentage of children who have dental homes by age 1.
Reducing the prevalence of oral disease in pregnant women and infants, ultimately reducing dental caries throughout early childhood.
Reducing oral health care expenditures.

The initiative’s ultimate aim was to enable sustainable integration of oral health care into primary care, resulting in improved overall health and well-being among pregnant women and infants. The PIOHQI initiative funded 16 projects. Three pilot projects—Connecticut, New York, and West Virginia—were funded through 2018, and 13 expansion projects—Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin—were funded through 2019.

During the project period, PIOHQI projects engaged in numerous wide-ranging activities that fall under seven strategy areas:

Network development
Workforce enhancement
Community outreach
Process and procedure development
Program development
State practice guidance development
Data collection, evaluation, and reporting