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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
The dental home: a primary care oral health concept
Arthur J Nowak1, Paul S Casamassimo
1Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Background:
The pediatrics community has promoted the concept of a medical home to improve families' care utilization. The authors describe the medical home and propose a dental home concept to improve families' access to dental care.
Description:
The dental home is a locus for preventive oral health supervision and emergency care. It can be a repository for records and the focus for making specialty referrals. When culture and ethnicity are barriers to care, the dental home offers a site adapted to care delivery and is sensitive to family values.
Clinical Implications:
The dental home can provide access to preventive and emergency services for children. Establishment of the home early in the child's life can expose a child to prevention and early intervention before problems occur, reduce anxiety and facilitate referral.
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