Vermont Department of Health - Oral Health and 1 more... less...
Individual
# of medical providers applying fluoride varnish to children under age 6
Current Value
37
Definition
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Story Behind the Curve
Last Updated: March 14, 2023
Author: Office of Oral Health, Vermont Department of Health
Vermont follows the Bright Futures schedule of care for medical health care providers who see children. Oral health messages and services (including fluoride varnish application) are recommended as part of those guidelines. Fluoride varnish can help prevent dental decay and repair dental decay at the early stages. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, all insurance companies (including VT Medicaid) reimburse medical health care providers for doing fluoride varnish applications for children under age six. We keep track of the number of medical providers applying fluoride varnish to children as an indicator of how well we’re doing in regard to integrating oral health with primary medical care. Although we have never recovered from our pre-pandemic high of 63, we’ve remained relatively stable throughout 2021 and 2022.
What Works
Providing training to medical health care providers about how to obtain supplies, apply fluoride varnish, and bill for the procedure can help medical teams adopt this practice. Before the pandemic, the Area Health Education Centers Program hosted a program called “From the First Tooth” (FTFT), which provided this information for practices. Unfortunately, that program ended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Office of Oral Health is working with AHEC to explore options to get FTFT up and running again.
Action Plan
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We are collaborating with the University of Vermont’s Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) to explore possibilities for restarting the “From the First Tooth” (fluoride varnish application in primary care) training to medical practices in Vermont.
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We are working with AHEC to promote the “Smiles for Life” oral health curriculum to health care professionals, medical residents, faculty, and health professions students. “Smiles for Life” is a series of free, online educational modules designed to train medical professionals about oral health and integrate oral health into primary care.
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We have reconnected with the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program to discuss how wed can promote fluoride varnish application in the medical home as a quality improvement measure in the Child Health Advances Measured in Practice (CHAMP) network of practices, a network of over 50 practices that see children in Vermont.
We are confident that by working collaboratively with our partners in the medical and human services fields we will be successful in increasing the number of medical professionals that provide fluoride varnish applications to children under age 6 in Vermont.
Notes on Methodology
Data Source: Vermont's Medicaid Claims
Medicaid claims data were used to identify the number of medical providers submitting claims for applying fluoride varnish (CPT=99188, D1206, or D1208) to a child under age 6.
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