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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
3154.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - Board 1

Abstract #105146

Healthy smiles through child care health consultation: A distance learning course

Tobie Barton, MA, The National Training Institute for Child Care Health Consultants, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 116-A S. Merritt Mill Road, CB# 8126, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8126, 919-843-7370, tobie_barton@unc.edu and Jonathan Kotch, MD, MPH, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, CB# 7445 Rosenau Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445.

“Healthy Smiles Through Child Care Health Consultation: A Distance Learning Course” (“Healthy Smiles”) is a three-year federally funded continuing education project. An interactive CD-ROM course on oral health in child care (“Healthy Smiles”) is in development and will be distributed to ten (10) child care health consultants, one (1) from each federal region, to participate in a pilot. Results from this pilot will be analyzed and used to revise and redistribute the interactive CD-ROM course to over 2300 child care health consultants nationwide. “Healthy Smiles” will contain the most current research on the developmental stages of children's oral health, major oral health diseases in young children, key prevention strategies, access to a dental home, techniques for promoting oral health in child care, and oral health for children with special needs. This poster session will highlight the design and development of the “Healthy Smiles” interactive CD-ROM course, as well as the current status of and evaluation data from the pilot project. Current research on the major oral health diseases for children, ages 0-6 will also be presented. Last, the key prevention strategies for oral health diseases in this age group will be offered, along with how the child care health consultant can promote oral health in children via child care.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this poster session, the participant will be able to