Early Head Start Essay

Head Start was created in 1965, during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential administration, as part of the Great Society plan and the War on Poverty (Currie , 2001). After observing the quality discrepancies between low income and high income educational settings, Johnson realized that “Five and six year old children are inheritors of poverty 's curse…(Johnson, 1965)” As a result, he called for the creation of a program that would allow “…preschool children of poverty [to] get a Head Start on their future (Johnson, 1965).” Soon, Head Start was established, with the goal of “enhance[ing] children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development (Mississippi Head Start Association, 2012).”

Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs which serve children from birth to age five, pregnant woman and their extended families. They are child-focused programs that have the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young children in low-income families. . These programs try to prepare young children intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically for their future educational and social endeavors. ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002).. The programs prepare the parent(s) to be supportive in the endeavor. Head Start has the philosophy that parents are a child's first and most influential teacher. The Head Start program is beneficial to early learning.

The program called the CHP came up with many ways to make it successful. Education is the key for success. Keeping this idea in mind the program used education as the main element of their program to teach them about oral health and make them more aware of the oral health issues. They educated the parents on the importance of how

In the course of my time volunteering at the UCSD Student-Run Free Dental Clinics, I came to understand how poverty, language barriers, and a lack of knowledge about the importance of dental care can lead to readily preventable and treatable dental problems. These dental problems can lead to a cascade of issues, preventing an individual’s progress. As a clinic volunteer inside the school’s dental clinic, I noticed young students, with poor dental care, have constant pain that affected their studies and attitude. I recall a Hispanic young boy telling me he was sharing a toothbrush with his family. I hand over multiple toothbrushes and, using Spanish cards, educate him on oral hygiene. With each treatment visit, he was eager to tell the dentist

Over 130 million Americans do not have dental insurance. On top of that, almost a million emergency room visits last year resulted from preventable oral conditions. Many Americans today are unaware of how the condition of their dentition affects their overall health. Socioeconomic limitations, the lack of dental education in parents, eating habits, and simply the availability of dentists plays a key role in the state of children’s oral health; implementing a universal dental care program will help lower the barriers that many people face when it comes to receiving the dental care they need. The program will target high-risk individuals who are prone to dental caries and provide them with standard treatment.

The websites I used for my research were Center for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization. The World Health Organization defines Oral Health as “a state of being free from chronic mouth and facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral sores, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay and tooth loss, and other diseases and disorders that affect the oral cavity” (2015). It is necessary to brush our teeth twice a day for two minutes and floss daily. Since tooth decay has been one of the most common chronic disease among children in the United States, I found it very important to educate them that this is a preventable disease and what ways it can be

Studies on oral health range from the impact of dental health insurance to the efficiency of state or federal programs and services. More recently, studies have also highlight the role of less advantageous populations. In the study by Edelstein, Hirsch, Frosh, & Kumar (2015), a Medicaid population is examined on its available interventions in an effort to reduce childhood dental carries. The researchers used systems model analysis of the Medicaid population in New York in order to assess the cost savings and disease reduction capacity of nine interventions, which include the following: fluoride varnish application, water fluoridation, fluoride toothpaste, fluoride varnish, medical screening, motivational interviewing, secondary prevention,

Deysi is a 2-year-old girl who lives with her parents in a one-bedroom apartment. Her mother and father work outside of the home, approximately 10 hours/day. Child care is provided by a network of women who include licensed home-based providers and a variety of friends and extended family members. On most evenings, Deysi's father picks her up from the child care site and gives her a fresh bottle of chocolate-flavored milk for the 45- minute trip home. She usually falls asleep while drinking it; Deysi's parents see this routine as a comfort for their daughter that usually results in a most welcomed, quiet car ride home at the end of a busy day.

Further, organized dentistry can develop several strategies to increase access to dental care and delivery of quality dental health services that are substantial for children with special dental needs. For example, strategies to increase the number of providers with appropriate training to treat CSHCN. Further, to increase providers' participation in the Medicaid program and improving their knowledge, empathy for and training to accommodate in care of children with special needs which is essential in improving access to dental care for this population. Further, it is important to integrate a training of dental students (both primary and comprehensive preventive and oral health care) who graduate from dental or dental hygiene schools to be competent in assessing treatment needs. Lastly, dental students must learn how to care for children with special needs that follow the guidelines of American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (Al Agili et al., 2004). In conclusion, health insurance coverage showed positive impact on access and utilization of health care for CSHCN. Health insurance should not be viewed as a solution in itself, but instead as one element of a comprehensive strategy to provide financial safety for CSHCN and their

Dental Hygiene is very important to me and has been since I was a child, this has influenced my desire of becoming a pediatric dentist. In a personal interview i conducted with Dr.Bills she informed me of this, “Dental Hygiene is emphasized by all dentists, we want our patients to have elegant white teeth and pleasant breath”(Bills). I would like to teach children the importance of keeping their teeth brushed so that they will have a beautiful smile and healthy teeth. Pediatric Dentistry is a superb fit for me because I care about dental health and I want children to know the importance as well. It is never too early for children to learn how important dental hygiene is.

Improvements in children’s oral health in Scotland, is evident. However, it is clear inequalities remain “It has become apparent that dental caries is essentially a disease associated with social deprivation” (Childsmile, 2013).

Resting on the above-mentioned information, one realizes the fact that in terms of a multilevel approach to epidemiology the complex of actions is needed to improve the state of the oral health of people who belong to low-income communities. Only significant improvement of the conditions under which people live could have the positive impact on their health. That is why, in order to protect them from caries new program should be created. People should be explained the main aspects of healthy living and provide with the constant access to various health facilities. Only under these conditions some positive shits oculd be

The University of Melbourne conducted a systematic review which included 32 studies of models for individual oral health promotion and their effectiveness. Hence, health behaviour change models targeting the social contexts of the behaviour were found to be more effective than the traditional biomedical model of targeting the causes of illness through preventive and educational approaches (Yevlahova & Satur, 2009). This review provided evidence to allow health practitioners to focus more on the underlying social determinants of oral disease during clinical dental encounter. The adoption of healthy food policies were proved to be effective to promote nutritional quality, decrease sugar intake and successfully reduced the caries increments over a one year period in Brazilian preschool children (Rodrigues, Watt, & Sheiham, 1999). Therefore, it is more rationale to adopt a collaborative approach. Food policy and health promotion activities are examples of common risk factor approach to promote preschool oral

This paper explores one published article reporting the findings of a 2011 xylitol toothpaste trial on preventing early childhood caries. Examining four Head Start classrooms residing in the Republic of the Marshall Islands on Majuro Atoll. The Washington Institutional Review Board granted acquiescence to the Ministry of Health to commence the trial as requisitioned. The Ministry of Health worked with the children four to five years of age of the Marshall Islands enrolled in Head Start during the school year of the trial. During the introductory census at the commencement of the school year 196 children enrolled and received a baseline caries exam. However, by the end of the trial, only 168 children accepted a caries exam and of those 145 children

Although considered preventable, 53.6% of Medicaid eligible kindergarteners studied in California had a history of dental caries and 27.8 % had decay present at the time of the screening (Dental Health Foundation, 2006). Teaching young children effective oral hygiene techniques is the most effective way to protect the child’s teeth and help them to develop a daily oral wellness routine ("Dental Health," 2015). By focusing on those most in need, Medicaid eligible preschool aged children, teaching and reinforcing effective oral hygiene strategies early in life will foster a lifelong habit of oral health wellness (Gardner, Lally, & Wardle, 2012).