Projects

CREEDD Projects

Our Center’s organizing theme is engaging non-dental care providers in oral health promotion and extending the venues for oral health promotion to non-clinical care settings in health disparities communities. The Center’s two major community-based intervention research projects are:

Project 1

Partnering with Community Health Centers to Prevent ECC

This project will evaluate the effectiveness of a training program for pediatric clinicians to administer fluoride varnish and patient centered counseling. The training program will be compared to a fluoride varnish only program. Evaluation will focus on the reduction of Early Childhood Caries (ECC), the improvement of oral health related quality of life, the increase of clinician knowledge of ECC and counseling to reduce ECC, and reduction of exposure, among children, to ECC risk factors. This project will be based in community health centers in Maryland and Ohio.

Project 2

Oral Health Advocates in Public Housing

This project will evaluate the effectiveness of a multimodal, community based approach to prevent Early Childhood Caries (ECC). The multimodal intervention will include oral health assessment and feedback, fluoride varnish application, and motivational interviewing delivered by oral health advocates. The research aims to determine if the multimodal intervention can reduce incidence of ECC and reduce ECC behavioral risk factors. The project will also evaluate the facilitators and barriers to the multimodal intervention in public housing sites. This study will be based in Boston, Massachusetts.