Course Summary
Diet, eating behaviors and nutrition for children, including
those with special health care needs, has
taken center stage as health providers tackle new
health issues of obesity, early childhood caries and a
rapidly deteriorating American food culture.
Pediatric dentistry’s, tools of diet analysis, counseling
and caries risk assessment have not kept up
with changes in pediatric dietary habits, altered by
food insecurity, increased sugar consumption, economics
and cultural shifts. All these factors contribute
to the early childhood caries epidemic.
New science on the role of diet and nutrition in
general and dental health, the oral-systemic dynamics
of nutrition in pediatric illness, and the behavioral
aspects of eating and diet have changed the
way we perceive the traditional contribution of diet
to disease and wellness. Much of our traditional
knowledge no longer applies as we are challenged
by patient health issues, behaviors and cultural values,
advocacy groups, government intervention and
parent and caregiver beliefs and myths.
This course provides a necessary update for both
novice and seasoned clinician in the area of nutrition
and oral health.
This program will be a unique blend of emerging
evidence, nutrition-related oral and systemic pathology,
best practices in counseling and diet management,
and a social and chronologic update on the
American diet and food habits.
Objectives
At the conclusion of the symposium, the participant
should be able to:
- Gain contemporary information about feeding,
diet, and nutrition in children and adolescents,
including those with special health care needs.
- Relate feeding, diet and nutrition to general and
oral development, health and disease.
- Understand contemporary pediatric oral disease
and its relationship to diet.
- Establish the role and function of the pediatric
dentist of the 21st century related to pediatric
diet and nutrition in both health and disease.
