Maternal and Child Health

Materials and Presentations

ASTDD Best Practice Approach Reports
ASTDD's Best Practice Approach reports promote best practices for state, territorial, and community oral health programs. Several of the reports focus on issues relates to the maternal and child health population.

ASTDD Policy Statements and White Papers
ASTDD policy statements and white papers reflect the association's stance on public oral health issues. Topics include community water fluoridation, dental sealants, early childhood caries, fluorides, perinatal oral health, preventing tobacco use and eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke, school-based or school-linked mobile or portable services, state-based oral-health-surveillance systems, and state oral health program infrastructure and capacity.

Bright Futures: Oral Health-Pocket Guide
This pocket guide offers health professionals an overview of preventive oral health supervision for five periods-pregnancy and postpartum, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. The pocket guide is designed to help health professionals implement specific oral health guidelines during these periods. (2016)

Making the Case for Oral Health to Your MCH/Title V Agency - Act now to ensure that oral health is part of your state's Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) needs assessment and state action plan! Your state MCH agency may have begun the process of conducting the Title V 5-year needs assessment. If the process hasn't started yet, it will soon. Don't hesitate; your action is needed now to become involved in the needs assessment process. To wait risks losing an opportunity to focus attention and resources on oral health in your state and to galvanize statewide support for oral health efforts over the next 5 years! The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD) and the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) have developed three resources to help you and your staff with efforts to become involved in the needs assessment process and ultimately the development of the state action plan. (January 2019)

• Including Oral Health in the Title V Maternal and Child Health 5-Year Needs Assessment and State Action Plan [tip sheet]
• Rationale/Arguments for Including Oral Health in the Title V Needs Assessment
• "Elevator Pitch" for Introducing Oral Health Issues to MCH Director or Title V Coordinator

MCH Title V National Performance Measure for Oral Health Summary

The measures and the process states and jurisdictions use for the MCH Services Block Grant application, Title V 5-year needs assessment, and reporting has changed starting in 2015 and revised recently. This document includes a summary followed by a detailed overview of the changes, along with suggested strategies to promote oral health in states and jurisdictions using a three-tiered framework that includes national outcome measures, national performance measures, and evidence-based or evidence-informed strategy measures. (2023)

Oral Health Quality Indicators for the Maternal and Child Health Population
This handout outlines a set of maternal and child health quality indicators to monitor oral health services delivered in public health programs and systems of care. Indicators for women of childbearing age and pregnant women are broken into three categories: access, utilization, and outcomes. Indicators for children are broken into four categories: access, utilization, process, and outcomes. (2020)

Federal Agencies and National Organizations

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry advocates for policies, guidelines, and programs that promote optimal oral health and oral health care for infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs.

American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) works to improve children's oral health through communication and collaboration between medical and dental homes and to make pediatricians and other health professionals an essential part of the oral health team. AAP's Section on Oral Health and Chapter Oral Health Advocates provide education, training, and advocacy for pediatricians, dentists, other health professionals, and families.

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs
The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs supports state maternal and child health programs and provides national leadership on issues affecting women and children.

Maternal and Child Health Bureau
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is part of the Health Resource and Services Administration, an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. MCHB's mission is to improve the health and well-being of America's mothers, children, and families. The bureau's website provides information about funding opportunities; maternal and child health topics; programs and initiatives; and data, research, and epidemiology.

National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety
The National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety (NCHBHS), is funded by the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families through a cooperative agreement awarded to the Education Development Center and Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, working in partnership with key national organizations. Its goal is to provide technical assistance and trainings to professionals working in early childhood education and care settings. The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center is the project lead for NCHBHS oral health activities and works in partnership with ASTDD, which coordinates the Dental Hygienist Liaison project.

National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) responds to the needs of professionals working in states and communities, with the goal of improving oral health services for pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs, and their families (maternal and child health [MCH] population).

OHRC works on a variety of projects funded by government agencies, including the Center on Oral Health Integration and Improvement (COHSII), a consortium that works with key stakeholders to improve systems of care in support of a quality improvement, patient-centered approach to address the oral health needs of the MCH population. The consortium is led by OHRC, working in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and the Dental Quality Alliance. COHSII is addressing three goals (1) providing technical assistance and training to states and Maternal and Child Health Bureauâ€"funded oral health projects, (2) establishing a set of MCH oral health quality indicators, and (3) developing and disseminating resources.

Websites

Title V Information System
This website contains information relating to Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant programs, including state action plans, national and state performance measures, and national and state data.