C. Design the Program
3. Review Best Practices
In developing, integrating, expanding, or enhancing
community oral health programs, it is useful to build on or tailor
work that
others have already done. Best practices are strategies or
programs that have been shown to be effective in addressing a
particular
problem, with a particular population, in a particular place.
A best practice in one environment may not be a best practice
in another, and the strength of the evidence base for best
practices varies. However, a review of what others have found
effective
can increase the portfolio of options for addressing a community’s
oral health needs.
A good place to start a search for best practices
is ASTDD’s
Proven
and Promising Best Practices for State and Community Oral Health
Programs.
Examples of programs are provided, and many aspects of community
oral health programming are explored, including the following:
- Water fluoridation
- Alternatives to water fluoridation
- Dental sealants
- Fluoride varnish
- Xylitol gum
- Case management
- Injury reduction
- Tobacco cessation
- Oral cancer prevention
- Clinical treatment
- Oral health education
- Improved Medicaid/SCHIP access
The National
Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center is another
valuable source of information about best practices.
The goal of the center is to help states and communities
address public oral health issues, and the Materials page on the resource
center’s Web site features information on an array
of public-health-oriented topics. Also available on this
Web site is the Bright
Futures Toolbox,
which features Bright Futures in Practice: Oral Health,
as well as other resource focused on oral health services
for
children
and adolescents, including those with special health care
needs. Training materials designed to help health professionals
and early
childhood professionals effectively work in community settings
(e.g., Head Start programs, WIC), are also available through
the resource center.
Other best practices resources targeting
use of fluoride and dental sealants include
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