Policy on the Dental Home

Policy statement

The AAPD encourages parents and other care providers to help every child establish a dental home no later than 12 months of age. The AAPD recognizes a dental home for pediatric patients should provide:

• safe, culturally-sensitive, individualized, comprehensive, continuous, accessible, coordinated, compassionate, patient- and family-centered care regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual or gender identity, medical status, family structure, or financial circumstances.^1,7,29-31
• comprehensive assessment for oral diseases and conditions.
• comprehensive evidence-based oral health care including acute care and preventive services in accordance with AAPD periodicity schedules.⁹
• individualized preventive oral health program based upon a caries-risk assessment³² and a periodontal disease-risk assessment¹⁴.
• anticipatory guidance regarding oral hygiene practices, oral/dental development and growth, speech/language development, nonnutritive habits, diet and nutrition, injury prevention, tobacco/nicotine product use, substance misuse, human papilloma virus vaccinations, and intraoral/perioral piercing and oral jewelry/accessories.9
• management of acute/chronic oral pain and infection.^33,34
• management of and long-term follow-up for acute dental trauma.^35-37 information about proper care of the child’s teeth, gingivae, and other oral structures. This would include the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease of the supporting and surrounding tissues and the maintenance of health, function, and esthetics of those structures and tissues.³⁸
• dietary counseling.³⁹
• referrals to dental specialists when care cannot directly be provided within the dental home.²⁸
• effective transition from a pediatric to an adult dental home including early recommendations to caregivers and collaboration, communication, and coordination between the pediatric and adult oral health care teams to ensure uninterrupted comprehensive care.^40,41