About Us
- About Us
About Healthy Teeth Healthy Children
Oral Health Education for Medical Providers and Allied Professionals
Through the EPIC (Educating Physicians in the Community) model, HTHC delivers live on-site or remote training across the state to pediatric and prenatal clinicians with their staff, medical residents and medical students through two programs:
- Oral Health in Your Office (60-90min) – focusing on conducting pediatric oral health screenings and risk assessment, fluoride varnish application to age 20 and associated technical assistance, oral health coding and billing, and dental referral
- Oral Health in the Prenatal Office (60min) – focusing on promoting good oral health practices for pregnant women.
Since 2011 HTHC has delivered more than 340 trainings, reaching over 4,000 medical providers and allied health professionals in >75% of Pennsylvania’s counties. The Oral Health in Your Office course provides the certificate required for Medicaid reimbursement for fluoride varnish application in Pennsylvania, as well as 1.0-1.5 units CME credit (provided through UPMC) for participants.
Our Oral Health Through the Lifespan on-demand webinar was developed specifically for medical training programs as a free resource for curriculum integration. This overview course addresses the impact of dental disease throughout several life stages including pregnancy, childhood, middle age and senior adulthood and shows how medical-dental integration contributes to comprehensive, high-quality care for all patients.
For more information or to schedule a training, please contact [email protected].
Enhancing Oral Health Literacy for the Community
In addition to supporting physicians, HTHC is dedicated to educating community members on the importance of oral health to overall health and has launched a variety of oral health literacy programs, including:
- Oral Health Framework for Telehealth – the most recent HTHC program aimed at spreading oral health prevention education to the public via QR code links to brief videos (less than 1 minute long) about oral health prevention;
- Links to free printable oral health resources for care providers and community members, including posters, flyers, stickers, bookmarks and more (many translated into multiple languages);
- Oral Health Community Engagement Kits for groups, university programs and clubs promoting and supporting oral health community outreach and service-learning opportunities; and
- Oral Health Story Kits providing basic oral health education for use by libraries, home visitors, community organizations and early learning programs that encourage good oral health habits for children and families in their communities.
HTHC is developing new community-based projects that strategically engage local agencies and organizations to expand community-wide oral health education and establish sustainable local oral health networks.
Visit our Resources page to download free materials or contact [email protected] for more information about available printed materials or community education kits.
Program Staff:
- Kristin Haegele Hill, MS
- Jacqueline Pugliese
Chapter Oral Health Advocates:
- Eve Kimball, MD
- Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO, FAAP
- Dakota Peterson, MD
Milestones of Success
March
2008
December
2008
April
2010
October
2011
January
2012
March
2012
October
2012
EPIC Oral Health in Your Office trainings begin.