Schuyler Center is working to eradicate the most common chronic disease in children: tooth decay. Children with tooth decay often are unable to eat properly, concentrate in school, or focus beyond their pain. Poor oral health in childhood often means a lifetime of disease and expense.
Early oral health promotion and disease prevention are critical because once dental disease occurs it tends to be chronic. Yet, dental care is often disconnected from other types of medical care in how services are paid for, who provides the service and where services are located. As with so many other types of health care, poor oral health disproportionately affects children from low-income families, as well as rural, Black, Hispanic, and Native American children.
Policy Focus
Through our advocacy and analysis, Schuyler Center develops and promotes budget and public policy initiatives that:
- Prevent oral disease in young children through evidence-based policies and programs.
- Integrate medical and dental care to improve access to services
- Increase the number of New Yorkers with fluoridated water.
- Strengthen the workforce to expand access to screening and treatment.
- Improve data and measurement.
Transforming Oral Health
The Schuyler Center serves as the New York State lead for the “Transforming Oral Health for Families” (TOHC) project, part of HRSA’s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health’s efforts to establish Maternal Child Health – Improving Oral Health Integration (MCH-IOHI) program to improve oral health care for pregnant women and infants served by health care programs and providers. The project in New York is led by HealthEfficient.
The project implements a Patient-Centered, Team-Based Primary Oral Health Care model using Community Health Workers and focuses on four objectives: enhancing state-level policy and scope of practice, increasing organizational oral health awareness, improving state oral health surveillance, and integrating preventive oral health into primary care through clinical workflow modifications, provider training, and referral tracking.
For more information contact Bridget Walsh bwalsh@scaany.org
Oral Health Resources
Resource Category/Categories: Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, Early Childhood Health and Well Being, NYS Budget, Oral Health, Pre-K | Resource Type: Policy Briefs & Reports
Resource Category/Categories: Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, Health, NYS Budget, Oral Health | Resource Type: Memos in Support, Policy Priorities
