Improving Patient Care
Interested in learning more about improving oral health and increasing access to care? Use these links.
Abuse
By law, dental professionals in California are designated and mandated to report suspicions of patient abuse and neglect. Learn more about the cycle of violence and how to identify abuse in the April 2004 and May 2004 issues of the Journal of the California Dental Association.
Access
Have a program, partnership or project you want your colleagues and/or the public to know about? Looking for volunteers? Want to honor one or more of your dedicated volunteers? Let us know! The CDA wants to help promote the great things our dentists are doing in their communities. Click here to submit community health program information for our web site.
Dedicated volunteers are working all over the state to improve oral health. Here are just a few of the projects they’re working on. If you’re interested in learning more or even pitching in to help, Visit our Community Health Bulletin Board. Click here.
Bioterrorism
See Emergency Preparedness, Pandemic Influenza, and Bioterrorism.
Cancer
No dental exam is complete without an oral cancer screening. Review the essentials of Detecting Oral Cancer, A Guide for Health-Care Professionals (National Oral Health Information Clearinghouse) and in the August/September 2003 issue of the Academy of General Denistry’s AGD Impact.
Children’s Oral Health
The CDA’s Dental Health Education Resource Guide is a fun and informative way for teachers to introduce children from preschool through fifth grades to the importance of good oral health. Please let educators know they can find this guide on the CDA website.
The California Society of Pediatric Dentistry (CSPD) advocates for the optimal oral health and general welfare of infants, children, adolescents, and those with special needs. Find more at http://www.cspd.org/.
Learn about how First 5 California programs are working to improve the health of very young children.
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry publishes Oral Health Policies and Clinical Guidelines on a wide range of subjects, including infant and adolescent oral-health care, behavior guidelines for pediatric patients, anesthesia issues related to pediatric care and more. The Caries-risk Assessment Tool (CAT) also may be accessed here.
View the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Guide to Children’s Dental Care in Medicaid
Take a closer look at the dental health of California's children in the Consequences of Untreated Dental Disease in Children (Children's Oral Health Advocacy) put together by CDA and the California Society of Pediatric Dentistry.
Cochrane Review
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit and independent organization dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health care readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health-care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
The major product of the collaboration is the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, published quarterly as part of The Cochrane Library. Those who prepare the reviews are mostly health-care professionals who volunteer in one of many Collaborative Review Groups, with editorial teams overseeing the preparation and maintenance of the reviews, and the application of rigorous quality standards.
Community Clinics
Interested in working in a community clinic? The California Primary Care Association provides job listings on its website. Click “Resources” then “Job Bank” and scroll down to “Dental.”
Click here for CDA's listing of dental clinics in California. In addition, UOP has compiled a list of dental clinics in California.
Many clinics are in need of volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering your dental professional services, please call the clinic directly for more information.
Cultural and Linguistic Resources
For tips on how to produce educational materials that are easy for everyone to understand, the National Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Resource Center has produced “A Way with Words: Guidelines for Writing Oral Health Materials for Audiences with Limited Literacy.” - new!
The American Dental Association identifies the practice benefits of cultural competency in a new article “Respect for Profit: How cultural competency boosts practice success.” - new!
The American Dental Association catalog offers several products designed to help enhance your ability to work with and treat people of all backgrounds. Titles include: “Multicultural Communication in the Dental Office”, “Spanish Terminology for the Dental Team”, and “Chairside Instructor-A Pictorial Guide to Case Presentation.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration
The National Center for Cultural Competence
The Office of Minority Health - In addition to more general resources, they also provide a Patient-Centered Guide to Implementing Language Access Services in Healthcare Organizations.
The Management Sciences for Health offers a Providers Guide to Quality and Culture
Command Spanish®, Inc. is a national provider of occupational Spanish language training materials for the workplace. Order online or call 601.582.8378.
“¡A su salud!” is a Spanish language program for health professionals. Order online or call 919-962-4011.
The Lao Family Community of Minnesota offers cultural competency and health care tips for working with the Hmong population.
See also “Language Assistance”
Data Resources
The Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Data Resource Center (DRC), co-sponsored by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the Division of Oral Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), serves as a resource for dental, oral and craniofacial data for the oral health research community, clinical practitioners, public health planners and policy makers, advocates and the public.
Early Childhood Caries
Read about the paradigm shift in thinking about early childhood caries in the February 2003 and March 2003 editions of the Journal of the California Dental Association.
First Smiles is a statewide initiative addressing the “silent epidemic” of early childhood caries in children 5 years old and younger.
Xylitol is a natural sweetener with decay-preventive qualities. View the CDA’s Xylitol fact sheet.
Emergency Preparedness, Pandemic Influenza, and Bioterrorism
American Dental Association – Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
American Dental Association — Bioterrorism
Read Dentistry's Role in Responding to Bioterrorism and Other Catastrophic Events — Review of the March 2003 meeting sponsored by the ADA and the U.S. Public Health Service.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Emergency Preparedness and Response
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) provides a handbook on “Preparing Workplaces for an Influenza Pandemic”
“Be Prepared California”, a Caliornia Department of Health Services website, provides guidelines and tips for disaster preparedness.
"Ready America”, a Department of Homeland Security website, contains comprehensive resources to assist individuals, businesses and families to be prepared for emergencies.
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provides extensive emergency preparedness resources for health professionals.
Fluoride
The U. S. surgeon general is a strong supporter of community fluoridation. View his 2004 statement.
The best way to determine if a community's water supply is fluoridated is to call the phone number listed on the property's water bill. Additionally, The First 5 California Oral Health Education and Training Project's fluoride map shows optimally fluoridated areas by Zip code.
Other online resources for community water fluoridation are the Centers for Disease Control’s My Water’s Fluoride and the California Department of Health Services' Fluoride table.
Read the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research's statement about the safety and efficacy of community fluoridation.
To review the Cochrane topical fluoride reviews, click here.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is providing fluoridated water to many residents in southern California. Click here for information regarding prescribed fluoride supplements.
Government Programs
The California Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) was created to increase access to affordable, comprehensive, quality health-care coverage. It administers the Healthy Families program.
The Medi-Cal Dental Services Branch administers dental coverage for Medicaid recipients.
Click here for information on Medicare, Medicaid and other government-benefit programs
California Department of Health Services
Language Assistance
The ADA offers Spanish language assistance through SONRISA: A Guide to Dental Health For Hispanic Americans, a new bilingual DVD and guidebook available to dentists.
The Multi-Language Health History Project began as an initiative of the University of the Pacific Dental School (UOP) to address the needs of patients and dentists who do not speak the same language. The project, also involving the CDA and MetLife, produced native-language health history forms that can be matched against others to allow dentists to translate a patient's native language to any of the languages listed. The July 2000 Journal of the California Dental Association examines the need for a thorough and accurate health history and provides health history forms translated into 10 languages. These forms are provided for private-practice dentists and public and private dental clinics. The use, duplication, or resale of the health history forms and translations for or by commercial interests is not authorized.
Additionally, MetLife, a partner in the Multi-Language Health History Project, provides health history forms in more than 30 languages for noncommercial use by private-practice dentists and public and private dental clinics.
TDIC provides Informed Consent forms in Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
The Department of Health Services offers dental health publications in several languages.
The Hong Kong Dental Association offers oral health fact sheets in Chinese.
The Hispanic Dental Association (HDA) has a laminated “Chairside Translator.” Order online or call 800.852.7921
Commonly Used Statements and Phrases is an English to Spanish translation document to aid our members in communicating with their diverse populations.
Spanish for Dental Professionals: A Step by Step Handbook
The American Dental Association catalog offers several products designed to help enhance your ability to work with and treat people of all backgrounds. Titles include: “Multicultural Communication in the Dental Office”, “Spanish Terminology for the Dental Team”, and “Chairside Instructor-A Pictorial Guide to Case Presentation.
Bilingual Guide Spanish-English for the Dental Clinic. Call the University of Texas Health Science Center at 210.567.3420 to order.
Medically Compromised Care
Antibiotic Prophylaxis: Review ADA guidelines for antibiotic premedication for prevention of bacterial endocarditis and for patients with total joint replacements.
Cancer: Resources for the management of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer may be found at the National Cancer Institute. Also available are guidelines for the care of patients undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
Diabetes: Learn about diabetes management in Working Together to Manage Diabetes: A Guide for Pharmacists, Podiatrists, Optometrists, and Dental Professionals, from the National Diabetes Education Program.
Disabled: Publications in the Practical Oral Care series from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research include background information on developmental disabilities and address oral-health problems associated with a variety of disorders.
HIV/AIDS: Resources for HIV-infected patient care may be accessed at HIVDENT.
Xerostomia (dry mouth) may result from medication use, autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's Syndrome, radiation, chemotherapy or nerve damage. While this syndrome may sometimes go unnoticed, it can significantly affect oral health. For information about the diagnosis, causes, and management of xerostomia, go to The Oral Cancer Foundation, the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the ADA.
Medically complex patients are encountered in every dental office. The July 2000 Journal of the California Dental Association discusses a variety of compromising conditions and appropriate dental management. It also provides multi-language health history forms and lists additional resources for treating patients with medically complex problems.
The Special Care Dentistry Association website promotes the oral health of special-needs patients, offering resources for dentists caring for geriatric patients, those with developmental disabilities, and others.
The Oral Health Services for Children and Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs: Resource Guide is produced by The Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health branch of the California Department of Health Services. The guide provides a list of journal articles, materials and federal agencies and national organizations that may serve as resources for optimal care. Additional resources to care for special needs patients can be found here, in addition to visiting the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center.
Oral Health Fact Sheets
The California Dental Association provides oral health fact sheets in an easy-to-print format. From Amalgam to Xylitol, you'll find it here.
Pandemic Influenza
See Emergency Preparedness, Pandemic Influenza, and Bioterrorism.
Pregnancy Care
The Children's Dental Health Project (CDHP) provides resources and information on improving perinatal and infant oral health.
In addition, the New York State Department of Health has developed at set of practice guidelines and recommendations intended to bring about changes in the health care delivery system and to improve the overall standard of care. Click here to view the Oral Health Care during Pregnancy and Early Childhood Practice Guidelines.
Retired Volunteers
TDIC offers reduced rate liability insurance. Many rural community clinics cannot provide dental services because there are simply not enough dentists. Recognizing that retired dentists represent a substantial asset to their communities, TDIC now offers liability insurance at a fraction of the cost to retired CDA dentists who volunteer their services. To be eligible for the reduced rate, licensed dentists may be reimbursed for expenses, but cannot be paid for services. If you are interested in applying for volunteer liability insurance, or want more information, call TDIC Insurance Solutions at 800.733.0633.
Tobacco
Help your patients become tobacco free! Find online tobacco-cessation information at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the U. S. surgeon seneral's tobacco-cessation web page, or Smokefree.gov. Or call 800.QUITNOW (800.784.8669) or 800.NOBUTTS (800.662.8887) for phone support and to set up a personalized plan to quit.