GRANT00180

Oral Health Colorado (OHCO) is developing a statewide plan to expand the public health infrastructure to offer preventive oral health services and education for school-aged children and their younger siblings, while developing models of care that are financially sustainable. The Initiative will focus on developing place-based models of school-based care that will address the oral health needs of at-risk children in a culturally competent and sustainable way; and expand the ability of dental hygienists to provide comprehensive preventive oral health care and education in a school setting. In Colorado, 8 of 47 school-based health centers provide oral health care. Colorado’s Department of Public Health and health care policy and financing recently instituted internal organizational goals and accountability measures for oral health improvement; this will facilitate OHCO’s work in establishing school-based oral health programs.