Pediatric Prevention: Oral Health Care

Children who have a dental home are more likely to receive preventative care, require fewer dental treatments, and are less likely to have dental disease. Many children demonstrate behavior management concerns that may impede families from establishing a dental home for their children. Conceptually, behavior concerns develop through a process of conditioning. Prevention of such problems should focus on providing positive experiences related to dental care. Treatment components to address behavior management concerns include graduated exposure, contingent reinforcement, modeling and prompting, distraction/relaxation, and cognitive behavior therapy. Further support, training, and reimbursement for time required to administer such treatment is needed.