Improving the Oral Health of Pregnant Women and Infants in California

ABSTRACT

Utilizing oral health care during pregnancy and infancy is important because the consequences of poor oral health can have a lifelong impact. To reduce the prevalence of oral disease, oral health care must be seamlessly integrated into primary care. The Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement Project achieves this by increasing oral health messages, improving state- and systems-level practices and improving access to and utilization of preventive oral health care services.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Valinda Byrne

Jennifer Valinda Byrne, BA, CCPH, is the manager of California’s Perinatal and Infant Oral Health Quality Improvement Project. She is a certified communicator in public health from the National Public Health Information Coalition and earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of California, Davis. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.

Kim Caldewey

Kim Caldewey, MPH, PA, is the dental health program manager for the Sonoma County Department of Health Services. She is a licensed physician assistant and earned a master’s of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.

Jayanth Kumar

Jayanth Kumar, DDS, MPH, is California’s state dental director. He is a board-certified specialist in dental public health and a former director and president of the American Board of Dental Public Health. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported..