About Healthy Teeth Healthy Children
Healthy Teeth Healthy Children (HTHC), a program of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP), is a state-wide educational program focused on improving oral health care for children by providing education to primary care providers, expanding oral health literacy for the community and facilitating integrative partnerships that enhance the overall health of children andfamilies in PA.
Through the EPIC (Educating Physicians in the Community) model, HTHC delivers free on-site training across the state to pediatric and prenatal clinicians, medical residents and students through two programs:
Our EPIC content can be adapted for remote delivery and our Oral Health Through the Lifespan webinar is available as a free, on-demand resource for provider practices and as a tool for oral health curriculum integration at medical training programs. This course addresses the impact of dental disease throughout several life stages including pregnancy, childhood, middle age and senior adulthood and shows how medical-dental integration contributes to comprehensive and high-quality care for all patients.
In addition to supporting physicians, HTHC is dedicated to educating community members on the importance of oral health to overall health and has launched a variety of oral health literacy programs, including:
- Accessible educational oral health posters and materials for care providers translated multiple languages;
- Oral Health Community Engagement Kits for university programs and clubs to promote and support oral health community outreach and service learning opportunities; and
- Oral Health Story Kits providing basic oral health education to libraries that encourage good oral health habits for children and families in their community. As of June 30, 2018, 29 District Library Centers and over 550 individual public libraries across all 67 counties in PA had received these resources.
HTHC is developing new community-based projects that strategically engage local agencies and organizations to expand community-wide oral health education and establish sustainable local oral health networks.