GRANT00074

Support to the Virginia Oral Health Coalition to implement a plan to ensure health care providers and educators have an increased understanding and awareness of the links between oral and overall health and work together to expand access to preventive oral health services for children 0-3 and to improve the delivery of care. The plan is predicated on the theory of change that if more medical providers receive information, education, and training about oral health and oral health prevention services, and if they practice an environment conductive to collaboration, they are more likely to provide oral health prevention services and referrals to a dental home. Ultimately, more children under three will receive preventive oral health services and have a dental home. The result of the planning phase of Virginia’s OH2014 initiative is a statewide plan created and endorsed by a broad base of partners that will serve as a roadmap to expand access to oral health prevention services for children under three through increased collaboration among health care providers. Virginia Oral Health Coalition’s implementation plan includes four interrelated goals designed to increase education about the integral relationship between oral health and overall health, deliver the tools to provide preventive oral health services and ensue that the provider environment is conducive to collaboration.