The 100 Million Mouths: Making Primary Care Champions for Equitable Oral Health Campaign is a project to recruit and train medical professionals to develop oral health curricula at primary care training sites in all states. This ambitious initiative, the latest effort led by UMass Chan Medical School to integrate oral health into primary care education across the country, is led by UMass Chan’s Hugh Silk, MD, MPH, Judith Savageau, MPH, and Led by other members of Center for the Center. Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health (CIPCOH).
“This project is to create 50 state champions who will work to implement several oral health curricula in all health schools in the country,” said Dr. Silk, a professor of family medicine and community health. I’m here. “More than 100 million people don’t visit a dentist each year, but are more likely to visit their primary care provider, hence the name 100 million or more mouths. And if we can address disease prevention, we can improve the health of many people.”
Oral health advocates are taught to contact medical, osteopathic, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, midwifery schools, pediatrics, medicine/pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine residents, geriatric fellowship programs. It is They will use existing national and state resources and partner with local and state professionals such as state dental directors, public health departments, and local academic and community-based dentists and dental hygienists. is taught by
Fourteen states have established oral health champions, and more are added each year.
“We started with the states most in need in terms of various indicators and outcomes, such as the number of dentists and the incidence of tooth decay. We want advocates committed to health equity and social justice,” said Savageau, associate professor of family medicine and community health. “For example, one champion works with many heads on her start preschool program, and one champion works with Navajo his nation, which has a very high incidence of tooth decay.”
With multi-year funding from the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, 100 Million Mouth advances CIPCOH’s work. Silk is co-principal investigator for a joint agreement between the UMass Chan Department of Family Medicine & Community Health and the Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Dentistry.
The CIPCOH project, originally funded by the U.S. Department of Health Resources, included a nationwide survey of training programs in the primary care sector to establish core oral health competencies and develop oral health curriculum assessments. We are developing a tool for
Silk and Savageau have led numerous CIPCOH projects, many involving students at the TH Chan School of Medicine and the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.
Third-year medical student Mackenzie Jones undertook a CIPCOH-funded summer research project to survey all course directors at TH Chan College of Medicine to identify oral health components across the curriculum. He found that UMass Chan weaves key concepts of the topic throughout the multi-year curriculum, building knowledge and skills with each iteration. It meets most of the oral hygiene competencies and goals established by the Association of American Medical Colleges.Jones’ study was submitted to the journal medical teacher for publication.
“For four years, most courses will cover oral health each year,” says Jones. “I would say that most of us consider oral health to be part of primary care based on the methods we were taught.”
Ekaterina Skaritanov, also a medical student, chose a demographic health clerkship on oral health led by Silk and Susan Feeney, DNP, Assistant Professor of Nursing, to discuss how oral health care contributes to overall health. and learned more about its role in progress. Worcester Health Equity.
“I learned that oral health is essentially related to every system in the body and can reflect overall health,” Skaritanov said. “We are not dentists, but we have found that we look inside the mouths of adults and children during examinations, encourage them to go to the dentist if possible, and help those who cannot afford dental or medical insurance. A dentist who accepts Medicaid will be important to my practice as a physician.”
Skaritanov, along with medical students Mei Dong, Alison Holt, Lauren McKenna, Suryateja Rao, and nursing student Isabella DiMare, were inspired by their oral health collective office experience to Worcester Telegram & Gazette It lists ways to reduce oral health disparities.
Skaritanov also received a Martin Luther Community Services grant to provide toothbrushes and toothpaste to families at Mary’s Mission Diaper Bank in Worcester, educate them on the importance of oral health, and connect them to pediatric dentists. rice field.
Another student-led, community-based UMass Chan oral health project assesses the oral health of homeless individuals, provides oral examinations and dental referrals at free clinics, and adds dental hygienists to local community health centers. suggested to do
Related UMass Chan news articles:
Remillard Family Community Fund announces grant recipients to improve community health
Martin Luther King Jr. Service Semester Student Award Addresses Community Medical Needs
School of Medicine Oral Health Curriculum Featured in AAMC News
Hugh Silk, M.D., takes leadership role at new center to integrate oral health into primary care training