By National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center on

OHRC Welcomes Five States to the Second Cohort of the Building State Capacity for Integration Learning Collaborative

 

Teams from Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Utah have been selected to participate in the second cohort of the Building State Capacity for Integration Learning Collaborative, a 16-month project focused on improving systems-level capacity for integrating oral health care and prenatal care.

 

Project teams are using the Capacity Inventory for Integrating Oral Health Care into Primary Care for Children and Pregnant Women to assess systems-level capacity factors, prioritize needs, and create action plans to enhance integrating oral health care and prenatal care in their states. The revised edition of the capacity inventory has been re-formatted in Excel and includes factors related to both children and pregnant women.

 

The learning collaborative’s first cohort in 2025–2026 included teams from Idaho, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. Learn more in Building State Capacity for Integration: A Learning Collaborative Report.

The October 13 Oral Health Learning Café will feature the team lead from the first cohort, Ravi Parker, from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Oral Health Program on “Exploring the Impact of the Building State Capacity for Integration Project.” Register for the webinar.

New Report Highlights Efforts to Address the Title V National Performance Measure for a Preventive Dental Visit

OHRC has released Snapshot: States and Jurisdictions Addressing the Title V National Performance Measure on a Preventive Dental Visit in Fiscal Year 2026 describing state and jurisdictional efforts.

The report begins with an overview of strategies from the 15 states and 3 jurisdictions that address the national performance measure (NPM) on a preventive dental visit, followed by individual strategies organized by common themes for pregnant women and for children and adolescents. The common themes are:

  • Partnership and collaboration
  • Access to care
  • Preventive services
  • Education
  • Training
  • Surveillance, data, and evaluation

All 59 states and jurisdictions receive Title V MCH Services Block Grant funds to ensure that pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents, including those with special health care needs, have access to preventive and primary health care. States and jurisdictions select NPMs, select or develop state performance measures (SPMs), and develop a state action plan.

The NPM on a preventive dental visit represents one of the priority areas that impact multiple MCH population groups (e.g., pregnant women, children, adolescents). It has two measures:

  • Percentage of women who had a preventive dental visit during pregnancy
  • Percentage of children and adolescents ages 1–17 who had a preventive dental visit in the last year

For fiscal year 2026, 18 states and jurisdictions selected a preventive dental visit for pregnant women, for children and adolescents, or for both population groups.

  • Preventive dental visit for pregnant women: West Virginia
  • Preventive dental visit for children and adolescents: Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, and Virginia
  • Preventive dental visit for pregnant women, children, and adolescents: Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Marshall Islands, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, and Palau

Learn more on OHRC’s webpage devoted to Title V oral health. Find information and resources to help state MCH programs and state oral health programs include oral health in the 5-year needs assessment, select the NPM on a preventive dental visit, develop an SPM on a preventive dental visit, and include oral health in the state action plan. There is also information on state and jurisdiction selections for past fiscal years.

Resource Spotlight

The Oral Health of Montana’s Kindergarten Children, 2021–2023

This brief presents information on the prevalence of tooth decay in the primary and permanent teeth of children in kindergarten in Montana, compared to the general 5-year-old population, who received an oral health screening during the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years. It also describes oral health disparities and trends since Montana’s last kindergarten oral health survey in 2015–2016. Other topics include prevalence of decay experience, untreated decay, and oral health disparities. [Produced by Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services]

Join Us at the 2026 NNOHA Annual Conference in Seattle

OHRC will be exhibiting at the upcoming National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) Annual Conference, taking place October 25–28, 2026, in Seattle, WA. This four-day event is designed specifically for safety-net oral health professionals, offering continuing education, expert presenters, and meaningful networking opportunities. Learn more and register. Please stop by the OHRC booth and say hello while you’re there!

In the News

Call for Abstracts for 2027 NOHC

The call for abstracts is open for the 2027 National Oral Health Conference (NOHC) in St. Louis, Missouri, April 12-14, 2026 (with weekend workshops April 10 and 11). Before you begin your submissions, please read the overview of abstract submissions and then review the appropriate guidelines (linked below for each type of submission). Abstract submissions for 60- and 90-minute seminars are due September 15. Other submissions listed here are due November 15: roundtable presentations, general posters, oral presentations, the American Association of Public Health Dentistry Leverett graduate student merit awards, predoctoral dental students awards, and dental hygiene student awards.  The planning committee is always interested in identifying new topics and speakers. If you have suggestions for topics for sessions, please send an email with the topic title, suggested presenters, and their contact information to [email protected] and [email protected]. Contact the NOHC Office with questions.

Micro-Credential Program for Community Dentists

Oral health professionals can build practical public health skills through this continuing education series offered through the University of Utah School of Dentistry and University of California, San Francisco. With funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the program is designed for dentists in community-based, rural, and underserved settings and costs $75 per course. Enrollees can gain foundational dental public health training with the asynchronous format without stepping away from practice. Complete all three courses to earn the micro-credential.

 

NIDCR Community Webinars on Next Strategic Plan

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is actively working on its next strategic plan and welcomes feedback to help guide the institute’s future priorities.

Register for one of two upcoming community webinars that will provide an overview of NIDCR’s strategic planning process, highlight the topic areas included in the request for information (NOT-DE-26-015): Inviting Comments and Suggestions on Topic Areas for the NIDCR Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027–2031 (comments due September 14), and discussion. Both webinars will cover the same content, so you only need to attend one session.

URL
https://www.mchoralhealth.org/