Part 1: Case Study
Dental and medical clinicians must begin dental risk factor determination, preventive counseling and preventive interventions within the first year of a child's life. Healthcare workers other than dental professionals are in an ideal position to accomplish this, as they see their patients for well-baby visits and provide anticipatory guidance to parents and/or caregivers about six times in the first year of life. There needs to be a greater effort on the part of all healthcare workers to direct patients to earlier dental exams of very young children when this is feasible. Additionally, referrals must be made to dental professionals when necessary.

Most oral diseases are preventable. A few simple and inexpensive hands-on procedures (taught in this course) will help caretakers prevent caries and its sequelae. These procedures are effective and require very little time. Brief parental counseling and instruction is also very helpful. Non-dental health professionals can teach skills such as tooth cleaning; brief counseling is believed to be effective for many women, especially with their first child. Oral health anticipatory guidance should be included in anticipatory guidance for normal developmental stages. Oral health assessment and interventions should be included with existing Early & Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment Services (ESPDT) program requirements.