100 Million Mouths Campaign: Creating a Pilot Program to Advance Oral Health Equity.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Professions Education
• Oral Health Disparities

Background:

• Primary care settings are accessed more frequently than oral health services.
• Integrating oral health into primary care training can enhance access to care and promote health equity.
• The 100 Million Mouths Campaign (100MMC) aims to establish oral health education champions (OHECs) in all 50 states.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the 100MMC pilot program in training OHECs.
• To evaluate the OHECs' success in integrating oral health content into primary care curricula.
• To identify key factors for the successful implementation and sustainability of the program.

Main Methods:

• Recruited and trained OHECs from 6 pilot states (2020-2021).
• Delivered a 2-day training workshop followed by monthly meetings.
• Conducted evaluations using post-workshop surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews.

Main Results:

• All OHECs found the training helpful for planning next steps.
• Each OHEC successfully engaged 3 primary care training programs.
• Oral health content was integrated through lectures, clinical practice, and case presentations.
• OHECs overwhelmingly recommended the program for future participants.

Conclusions:

• The 100MMC pilot program was successfully implemented.
• Trained OHECs can improve oral health access within communities.
• Future expansion should focus on OHEC diversity and program sustainability.