Income-Based Disparities in a Yearly Dental Visit in United States Adults and Children: Trend Analysis 1997 to 2016.

Objective: To determine how income-based disparities in a yearly dental visit (the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicator for Oral Health) changed since legislation to expand dental coverage and to compare disparity trends in children and adults.

Methods: We analyzed Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 1997 to 2016 to determine yearly dental visit rates for US children and adults by family income. We determined measures of income disparity, including the Slope Index of Inequality and the Relative Index of Inequality and examined trends in yearly dental visit, Slope Index of Inequality, and Relative Index of Inequality using joinpoint regression.

Teeth: Small but Mighty and Mighty Important. A Comprehensive Review of Children's Dental Health for Primary Care Clinicians.

Healthy teeth allow us to eat and stay well-nourished. Although primary care clinicians receive limited training about teeth, given the common nature of dental problems, it is important that they understand and recognize normal and abnormal dental conditions and can implement primary and secondary prevention of dental conditions in their practice. PubMed has been used to search the scientific literature for evidence on the following topics: normal dental development, dental abnormalities, malocclusion, teething, dental caries and related epidemiology and prevention, fluoride, dental injury and its management and prevention; and identification, prevention and treatment of gingivitis and periodontal disease.

Infant Oral Health.

It may be easy to discount oral health in infancy because most infants are not born with teeth and only a few teeth erupt during the first year of life. Infancy, however, is a critical time for formation of habits. Positive habits, such as twice-daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste starting at first teeth eruption, provides topical fluoride, which is important for remineralization of the tooth and helps establish a lifelong healthy practice.

The Primary Care Pediatrician and the Care of Children With Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate.

Orofacial clefts, specifically cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P), are among the most common congenital anomalies. CL/P vary in their location and severity and comprise 3 overarching groups: cleft lip (CL), cleft lip with cleft palate (CLP), and cleft palate alone (CP). CL/P may be associated with one of many syndromes that could further complicate a child's needs.

Visits to US emergency departments by 20- to 29-year-olds with toothache during 2001-2010.

Background: Visits to emergency departments (EDs) for dental symptoms are on the rise, yet reliance on EDs for dental care is far from ideal. ED toothache visits represent opportunities to improve access to professional dental care.

Methods: This research focuses on 20- to 29-year-olds, who account for more ED toothache visits than do other age groups.

Predictors of unmet dental need in children with autism spectrum disorder: results from a national sample.

Objective: Unmet dental need in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is common. We tested hypotheses that lacking a medical home or having characteristics of more severe ASD is positively associated with having unmet dental need among children with ASD.

Methods: Using data from the 2009 to 2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, we analyzed 2772 children 5 to 17 years old with ASD.

Oral health opinions and practices of pediatricians: updated results from a national survey.

Background: Professional guidelines and state Medicaid policies encourage pediatricians to provide oral health screening, anticipatory guidance, and fluoride varnish application to young patients. Because oral health activities are becoming more common in medical offices, the objective of this study was to assess pediatricians' attitudes and practices related to oral health and examine changes since 2008.

Methods: As part of the 2012 Periodic Survey of Fellows, a random sample of 1638 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics was surveyed on their participation in oral health promotion activities.

Chapter Oral Health Advocates: A Nationwide Model for Pediatrician Peer Education and Advocacy about Oral Health.

Objective. (1) To describe an innovative program training US pediatricians to be Chapter Oral Health Advocates (COHAs). (2) To provide insight into COHAs' experiences disseminating oral health knowledge to fellow pediatricians.

Visiting the emergency department for dental problems: trends in utilization, 2001 to 2008.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that between 2001 and 2008, Americans increasingly relied upon emergency departments (EDs) for dental care.

Methods: Data from 2001 through 2008 were collected from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). Population-based visit rates for dental problems, and, for comparison, asthma, were calculated using annual US Census Bureau estimates.

Wanting better: a qualitative study of low-income parents about their children's oral health.

Purpose: Using qualitative methods, the purpose of this study was to understand low-income parents' experiences and how these influenced their oral health-related behavior toward their children.

Methods: Twenty-eight parents were recruited from 7 sites that serve low-income families. Interviews, which were audiotaped and transcribed, were comprised of mostly open-ended questions.

Oral health and pediatricians: results of a national survey.

Objective: Pediatricians have regular opportunities to perform screening dental examinations on young children and to educate families on preventive oral health. We sought to assess pediatricians' current attitudes and practices related to oral health of children 0-3 years old.

Methods: A Periodic Survey of Fellows, focused on oral health in pediatricians' office settings, was sent to 1618 postresidency fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dental care and children with special health care needs: a population-based perspective.

This paper grew out of a project reviewing progress in children's oral health after Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General was published in 2000. It includes a summary of advances in national surveillance of children with special health care needs (CSHCN), and presents more recent data on unmet dental care need among CSHCN. To that end, we used the 2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs to determine the prevalence of unmet dental care need among CSHCN and to compare this within subgroups of CSHCN, as well as to children without special health care needs, and to results from the previous iteration of this survey.

Bupivacaine administration and postoperative pain following anterior iliac crest bone graft for alveolar cleft repair.

Objective: To determine whether placement of a bupivacaine-soaked absorbable sponge (BAS) in addition to bupivacaine infiltration at the anterior iliac crest (AIC) donor site alters postoperative pain for children undergoing alveolar bone grafting (ABG) for cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL+/-P). The comparison group received only bupivacaine infiltration (NO BAS) at the AIC.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Pediatric primary care providers and adolescent depression: a qualitative study of barriers to treatment and the effect of the black box warning.

Purpose: The recent black box warning on antidepressants has drawn attention to controversies regarding the treatment of adolescent depression in primary care settings, but little is known about how providers decide to treat depressed youth and what resources are employed.

Methods: We conducted focus groups with 35 providers and staff in nine community-based pediatric practices in rural and urban settings of western Washington State. Discussion topics included perceived barriers to the treatment of depression in youth, how providers addressed these barriers, and the impact of the recent Federal Drug Administration (FDA) black-box warning.

Preventive dental care for children in the United States: a national perspective.

Objective: Preventive dental care is a cornerstone of optimal oral health. However, in 1996, only 38% of US children received preventive dental care. We used the National Survey of Children's Health to (1) describe the proportion of US children with > or = 1 preventive dental visit within the previous year, (2) identify factors that were associated with preventive dental care use, and (3) test the hypothesis that preventive dental care use by near-poor children is associated with State Child Health Insurance Program policies for covering dental care.

A comparison of nasendoscopy and multiview videofluoroscopy in assessing velopharyngeal insufficiency.

Objectives: 1) To compare nasendoscopy (NE) and multiview fluoroscopy (MVF) in assessing velopharyngeal gap size; and 2) to determine the relationship between these assessments and velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) severity.

Study Design And Setting: Retrospective review of consecutive patients with VPI at a tertiary care children's hospital, assessed with NE and MVF between 1996 and 2003.

Results: 177 subjects.

Availability of dental appointments for young children in King County, Washington: implications for access to care.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the proportion of dental offices in King County willing to provide a new appointment to young children and young children on Medicaid.

Methods: A simulated parent phone call was made to 508 randomly chosen dental offices in King County. Of these, 291 offices provided preventive dental care to children.

Community orthodontists and craniofacial care: results of a Washington state survey.

Background: Little is known about community orthodontists' previous training in, experience with, or receptivity to caring for children with craniofacial disorders.

Objectives: (1) To characterize the current level of participation by Washington state orthodontists in craniofacial care; and (2) to identify factors that promote or impede community orthodontists' involvement in caring for children with craniofacial conditions.

Design: Mail survey.

Head and neck endocrine surgery in children: 1997 and 2000.

Objectives: To characterize children undergoing parathyroid, thyroid, and thyroglossal duct cyst surgery in 1997 and 2000 using a nationally representative discharge database to determine whether rates and outcomes of these surgical treatments vary by age, sex, and health care system attributes.

Data Source: The 1997 and 2000 Kids' Inpatient Database, available through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Study Selection: All patients 18 years and younger undergoing head and neck endocrine (HNE) procedures were included.

Pediatric admissions and procedures for lymphatic malformations in the United States: 1997 and 2000.

Objective: To describe the incidence of discharges for lymphatic malformation (LM) and the various treatments rendered for this condition in a nationwide sampling of pediatric discharges from 1997 and 2000.

Data Source: The 1997 and 2000 Kid's Inpatient Database (KID), available through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Data Extraction: The sampling scheme of this database allowed for calculation of national and regional estimates using STATA 8.

Furlow palatoplasty for management of velopharyngeal insufficiency: a prospective study of 148 consecutive patients.

Background: The objectives of the study were to describe speech outcomes in a large series of patients undergoing Furlow palatoplasty for management of velopharyngeal insufficiency and to test whether preoperative velopharyngeal gap size and other patient characteristics significantly affect those outcomes.

Methods: Data collected included age at the time of surgery, surgeon, type of cleft, syndrome diagnosis, preoperative velopharyngeal gap size as determined by videonasendoscopy, and preoperative and postoperative perceptual speech assessments. Descriptive statistics were generated and ordinal logistic regression on the outcome variable, postoperative velopharyngeal insufficiency severity score, was performed.

Oral health in the pediatric practice setting: a survey of Washington State pediatricians.

Background: Pediatric health care providers may be the only source of preventive oral health education for families of young children who lack access to professional dental care.

Objective: We surveyed Washington State pediatricians in order to characterize their oral health-related educational needs and anticipatory guidance practices.

Methods: A 38-question survey was mailed to all 606 general pediatricians in Washington State.