Early oral health habits can have a lifelong impact. In addition to improving overall physical health, proper oral health care has been shown to benefit eating, speaking, learning, social interaction, and even employment potential, according to the CDC.
It all starts with a child’s first baby teeth.
Yet more than half of children will have a cavity in their baby teeth by age 8. And children from low-income families are twice as likely to have a cavity than those from high-income families.
At Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining, NY, staff noticed a lack of pediatric dental visits seemed to be caused by a misconception about the importance of caring for these baby teeth.
“Parents were telling me that they weren’t aware they were supposed to see a dentist as young as when [their baby’s] teeth started to sprout,” said Beija Vasquez, MSW, formerly at Open Door with the Healthy Steps program specializing in young children. “We really needed to stress the importance of taking care of those baby teeth. Those teeth aren’t disposable—they need to be cared for.”
A fellow with United Hospital Fund’s Pediatrics for an Equitable Developmental Start Learning Network, Ms. Vasquez made it her mission to change this.
With the goal of increasing pediatric dental visits for patients between six and 18 months, Ms. Vasquez first set up a new workflow that would sign families up for a check-up with their dental department the same day as their pediatric well-child visit. The new approach served as a reminder to families to visit the dentist, while making it as convenient as possible to do so by scheduling the appointment on a day they would already be at the medical center. Open Door’s dental department is in the same building as its primary care offices.
But Ms. Vasquez didn’t stop there. Working with Open Door’s behavioral health team, she used her fellowship stipend to eliminate yet another barrier to seeking dental care: fear.
Open Door staff put together dental kits that could make first dental appointments both comfortable and educational. The kits included rattles or “stuffies” that could provide emotional comfort along with information on oral health, age-appropriate toothbrushes, and toothpaste to help continue healthy habits at home.
“Sometimes parents are just afraid of the dentist, and they’re reluctant to bring their child to experience that same fear that they have,” said Shonny Capodilupo, LCSW, Open Door’s senior director of behavioral health. “This foundation of having a good experience can actually lead to lifelong, positive oral health.”
The results are significant. Since the project, more than 300 Open Door patients have been connected to oral health care, and 97 percent of those patients have received preventive fluoride varnish. The project’s approach has since expanded to all dental health sites in the Open Door network, which serves the most densely populated and high-need areas of the Mid-Hudson region.
Ms. Vasquez notes that the PEDS Learning Network fellowship was instrumental not only in the success of her project, but in her confidence as a changemaker moving forward.
“The PEDS Network fellowship was an amazing opportunity," Ms. Vasquez said. “Now I feel wherever I go I’m really inspired to make change, to identify those gaps, and address those health disparities.”
The PEDS Learning Network fellowship graduated 16 early career physicians, mental health professionals, and social workers from its 15-month program, which ran from 2020 through 2023. Along with a quarterly webinar series and online resource center, the statewide PEDS Network, supported by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, aimed to improve early childhood development and reduce disparities in pediatric primary care.
“We do not invest just in these projects—what we’re doing is investing in individuals who are dedicated to the communities they serve,” said UHF Senior Program Manager Susan Olivera. “As they continue in their professional trajectory, fellows will be in positions to impact policy, make change, and really go above and beyond what they believe in service of young children and their families.”