An emerging awareness of the nature and severity of early childhood caries (ECC) and its serious implications for systemic health has made it imperative that all health professionals engage more actively in oral health promotion and disease prevention.

Health professionals can promote the oral health of infants and children by learning about oral development, oral disease, oral hygiene, fluoride, and nutrition and by sharing information with parents.

Health professionals can help ensure that infants and young children receive the care they need by referring infants to a dentist for an oral examination within 6 months of the eruption of the first primary tooth, and no later than age 12 months, and by establishing the child's dental home. They can also provide parents with anticipatory guidance on oral development, caries transmission, eating habits, fluoride, nonnutritive sucking habits, bottle use, tooth eruption, and gum/tooth cleaning. Since dental caries is an infectious disease that may be transmitted from the mother or another intimate caregiver to the infant, anticipatory guidance should be provided to pregnant women, new mothers, and other caregivers.

This resource guide is divided into three sections:

• The first section, "Journal Articles," lists articles appearing in the literature between 2002 and 2004.
• The second section, "Materials," lists books, curricula, manuals, modules, guidelines, pamphlets, brochures, and videotapes.
• The third section, "Federal Agencies and National Organizations," lists agencies and organizations that may serve as resources.
  Materials cited in the resource guide have been added to the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) library.

Many items in the Materials section are available from the Internet. Others are available for loan, or copies of listed materials can be requested directly from the agencies or organizations that produced them. Inclusion in the resource guide does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Georgetown University, or OHRC. Although we have tried to present a thorough overview of ECC materials, we realize that this list is not complete.

For further information, we encourage you to contact the agencies and organizations listed in the third section. Your state and local departments of public health and education; the Head Start Bureau; and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) are additional sources of information. OHRC will update the resource guide periodically, and we would appreciate hearing from you if you know of any resources that are not included in this edition.

Download Early Childhood Caries Resource Guide (Second Edition)

PDF format, 234KB, 40Pages.

National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center
Georgetown University
Box 571272
Washington, DC 20057-1272
(202) 784-9771
(202) 784-9777 fax
Web site: http://www.mchoralhealth.org

CONTENTS
Introduction v
Acknowledgments vi
Journal Articles 1
Materials 7
Federal Agencies and National Organizations 23

Visit National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) Website

Purpose

The purpose of the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center (OHRC) is to respond to the needs of states and communities in addressing current and emerging public oral health issues. OHRC supports health professionals, program administrators, educators, policymakers, and others with the goal of improving oral health services for infants, children, adolescents, and their families.

The resource center collaborates with federal, state, and local agencies; national and state organizations and associations; and foundations to gather, develop, and share quality and valued information and materials. A fact sheet describing the services of the resource center is available.

Funding

The resource center is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

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