Academic Pediatrics examines state of kids' oral health

The current issue of Academic Pediatrics, devoted entirely to children's oral health, offers a ''midterm examination'' of how far the U.S. has come since the 2000 Surgeon General's report in meeting Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives and other key recommendations (Academic Pediatrics, Nov/Dec 2009, Vol. 9:6).

Bringing together 19 contributions from experts in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and public policy, Academic Pediatrics guest editors Wendy E. Mouradian and Rebecca L. Slayton have assembled a comprehensive summary of the state of children's oral health in the U.S. A number of the papers were presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics' National Summit on Children's Oral Health, held in November 2008 in Chicago.

In his commentary, Editor-in-Chief Peter G. Szilagyi, University of Rochester Medical Center, asks, "Why should Academic Pediatrics devote an entire issue to children's oral health now?"

"First, oral health is health, and children's oral health is part of pediatrics," he writes.
"Second, we are far from achieving our Healthy People 2010 oral health objectives in reducing the prevalence of caries in children...Third, substantial disparities exist in children's oral health and access to care... Fourth, oral health represents an excellent paradigm in which the traditional pediatric community needs to work more closely with other health professionals -- in this case dental professionals -- to advance the health of children. I look forward to the day when a future issue of Academic Pediatrics or a future Surgeon General's report proclaims victory on the plight of dental caries and declares that children's mouths are largely absent of dental or oral disease."

Among the other articles in the special report:

• Rebecca L. Slayton and Harold C. Slavkin address how scientific and technological advances in sequencing of the human genome, tissue engineering, and saliva diagnostics may have significant potential to impact oral health.
• Paul S. Casamassimo relates the medical history of a young man with special needs to illustrate how oral health may be mishandled by both community dentists and physicians in a health care system with too many gaps.
• Burton Edelstein writes about congressional action to reauthorize the Child's Health Insurance Program and to include funding for oral care.
• James J. Crall discusses how the Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health drove Congress and state legislatures, federal and state agencies, the federal courts, and various professional societies and associations to adopt policies and procedures to enhance children's oral health, and reflects on the work remaining to fully address children's oral health needs.
• Three articles review current measures of access to dental care for children, including those with special health care needs, and the ethical and policy issues in the care of children with craniofacial conditions including quality of life, costs of care, and prenatal diagnosis of craniofacial defects.
• Six articles focus on the oral health workforce and dental and medical education issues. Authors review the state of the oral health workforce, including new models of mid-level dental practitioners, and stress the need to better educate both dentists (especially general and pediatric dentists) and primary care medical providers (pediatricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, and physicians' assistants) to promote children's oral health and ensure they have adequate access to dental care.