Evaluation of an Oral Health Promotion Program for Urban Minority Infants and Toddlers

Objective: The objective of this project was to design, implement and evaluate an oral health promotion program for inner-city Vietnamese infants and toddlers in Vancouver, Canada. Methods: The project comprised four phases: information gathering, project planning, project implementation, and project evaluation. Baseline information-gathering for a convenience sample of preschool children revealed a dmfs, mean(S.D.), of 9.5(10.5); a bottle containing milk was sipped during the day and used during sleep-time by most children. Replies to true-false questions suggested a lack of parental belief in the importance of baby teeth. The program's primary activity was one-on-one counseling at infant immunization visits by a Vietnamese lay health counselor, followed by telephone reminders. Results: Over an almost 7-year period (March 1995-December 2001), 134 twice-monthly clinics were held; 32 mothers had 1 counseling session, and 112 mothers had >1 counseling session. 60 unscheduled "drop-in" visits by mothers seeking oral health information also occurred. 66/112 (59%) of all participating children attended one of 4 follow-up clinics at which dental assessments were performed and mothers were interviewed about child-feeding habits. At each follow-up, a significantly fewer number of mothers of 12-60 month old children reported their child using, or ever having used, a sleep-time bottle or a daytime comfort bottle, and a significantly greater number of children had stopped the bottle by 2 years of age compared to baseline, p<0.001. Dental health measured by mean dmfs was significantly better compared to baseline for 19-60 month old children, p<0.05. Conclusion: One-on-one counseling with regular telephone reminders provided by a lay person of similar background and culture to participants is an effective way to facilitate adoption of healthy behaviors and to improve oral health of children. This project has been funded by the Community Health Innovation/Sharon Martin Fund of the Vancouver-Coastal Health Authority.