UMKC to study dental care for Kansas kids

UMKC professors Pat Kelly of the School of Nursing and Health Studies and Melanie Simmer-Beck of the School of Dentistry are co-investigators on a National Institutes of Health grant, potentially totaling $4.38 million, to study dental hygienist care of Kansas children. Credit: Photo by Janet Rogers, Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications

UMKC professors Pat Kelly of the School of Nursing and Health Studies and Melanie Simmer-Beck of the School of Dentistry are co-investigators on a National Institutes of Health grant, potentially totaling $4.38 million, to study dental hygienist care of Kansas children. Credit: Photo by Janet Rogers, Division of Strategic Marketing and Communications

UMKC dental and nursing researchers hope to learn more about the impact oral health services can have on children.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded UMKC’s School of Dentistry and School of Nursing and Health Studies funding potentially totaling about $4.38 million in the next five years. They’ll work with a Kansas program to see what impact dental hygienists have on oral health and social outcomes of children in rural communities.

Since 2003, Kansas has allowed dental hygienists who meet specific criteria and are sponsored by a Kansas dentist to deliver care directly to children in their community without being directly supervised. Missouri doesn’t currently permit that care model.

The UMKC School of Dentistry is the only public dental school in the Missouri and Kansas region. It has an agreement with the state of Kansas to educate dentists from Kansas in addition to its priority for educating dentists in Missouri. The agreement advances oral health in the region.

“I am excited to be working on this important public health project,” said Pat Kelly, UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies professor and co-primary investigator of the grant. “The development of the role of the extended-care dental hygienist parallels that of advanced practice nurses, and it is important that we rigorously assess the outcomes for patients and communities. As a public health nurse, I have seen only too frequently the negative health effects that low-income children suffer as a result of being unable to access traditional oral health services. This funding provides us with an opportunity to document the impact of the excellent care provided by hygienists.”

UMKC says the two schools each are longtime leaders in providing health care to children, especially in low-income and minority populations.

 

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