Why oral health matters for children with special health-care needs

Strategies for improving oral health care

Engage with families and other health professionals: Engaging with parents, extended family members, and other health professionals involved in a child’s care is crucial for obtaining and sharing information and ultimately ensuring delivery of the best possible care.

Seek skilled experience: Most children with SHCNs can obtain care from a general dentist and their clinical staff. For those with significant behavioral challenges, complex medical conditions, or other issues, it’s best to obtain care from oral health professionals who have significant experience in providing care to this population.⁵

Excellent resources

Brush Up on Oral Health. This series of tip sheets provides Head Start staff with information on current practices and practical tips to promote good oral health for young children, including those with SHCNs. Much of the information is also relevant to dental hygienists.

Healthy Habits for Happy Smiles. This series of handouts provides simple tips on oral health issues for parents of young children, including those with SHCNs.

Special Care: An Oral Health Professional’s Guide to Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs. This series of modules discusses providing optimal oral health care, oral health supervision, prevention of oral diseases, and behavior guidance. The course can be taken for continuing education credits.

Each child with SHCNs experiences unique oral health challenges related to their specific conditions. Dental hygienists play an important role in meeting their needs in a comfortable and supportive environment by working with other oral health professionals, health professionals, and families to help them become familiar with the oral health risks associated with SHCNs, and by tailoring the care they provide.

References

1. Chi DL. Oral health for US children with special health care needs. Ped Clins North Amer. 2018;65(5):981-933.

2. Lebrun-Harris LA, Canto TM, Vodicka P, Mann MY, Kinsman SB. Oral health among children and youth with special health care needs. Pediatrics. 2021;148(2): e20200252.

3. Allareddy V, Rampa S, Lee MK, Allareddy V, Nalliah RP. 2014. Hospital-based emergency department visits involving dental conditions: Profile and predictors of poor outcomes and resource utilization. JADA. 2014;145(4):331-337.

4. Isman B, Newton RN. Oral Conditions in Children with Special Needs: A Guide for Health Care Providers. August 2016. California Connections Project.

5. Balzer J, Holt K. Strategies for Improving the Oral Health System of Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (2nd ed.). 2022. National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center.

Katrina Holt, MPH, MS, RD, FAND, is the director for the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center. She works to enhance the quality of oral health services for pregnant women, children, and adolescents, especially those from disadvantaged and underserved populations. Prior to joining Georgetown University, Katrina worked in local health departments, prenatal clinics, school-based clinics, refugee clinics, and other community programs. She’s very committed to supporting individuals with SHCNs and she has served as a volunteer for the Special Olympics for the past 20 years.