GRANT00035

Support to the New Hampshire Public Health Association to support the New Hampshire Oral Health Coalition (NHOHC) as lead convenor of a broad-spectrum, statewide oral health stakeholder group. A collaborative alliance model will be used, in addition to a whole systems approach through Mini-Colloquia, to examine, analyze, and select an infrastructure system for statewide deployment of public health dental hygienists (PHDHs) to provide preventive oral health services in community-based underserved areas of New Hampshire. Since New Hampshire has no county or state-based public health infrastructure for the provision of essential public health services, this project would examine existing infrastructure to determine the capacity and feasibility of each for the deployment of PHDHs into underserved populations and geographic areas. Systems to be considered include the developing public health networks that are emerging as recognized and funded by the state for population-based services, the community health center system that provides comprehensive primary care to the underserved and underinsured, geographic counties, and any additional systems that may be identified in the Mini-Colloquia.