Pediatricians Are an Option for Some Dental Care
February 23, 2010

By Nancy Volkers
InteliHealth News Service

INTELIHEALTH - Pediatricians may be able to provide some preventive dental services to children, a study finds.

The study was done by researchers from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. They asked 231 pediatricians and family physicians to report their experiences with providing preventive dental services to children under 4. The physicians were part of a statewide program called Into the Mouths of Babes (IMB). This program trains physicians and nurses to:

• Provide oral screenings for children
• Teach parents about oral health
• Apply fluoride varnish to children's teeth

About 7 out of 10 physicians provided these services on a regular basis. The four most common barriers were:

• Difficulty with applying fluoride varnish
• Finding ways to fit the dental services into the doctor visit
• Problems referring children to the dentist when needed
• Resistance to the program from staff and other physicians

The authors suggest training physicians and staff on how to overcome potential barriers.

Data from Into the Mouths of Babes were previously published. Medicaid-covered children in the program had fewer decay-related dental visits than similar children. Those who had at least 4 visits with an IMB provider before the age of 3 seemed to benefit most.

The study was published online in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.