Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Project Oral Health for Juvenile Diabetics

last updated Apr 11, 2013

Overview

Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
1998
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
All income levels

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
<10
Number of Clients Served: 
105 (since 1996)
Summary: 

Project Oral Health for Juvenile Diabetics (POHJD) aims to provide free/discounted dental treatment to children with diabetes of up to nineteen years of age. It hopes to provide assistance to families burdened by the cost of treating diabetes and to also increase awareness on the importance of oral health.

Key program components: 

POHJD holds lectures and special events to inform patients about the importance of oral health in diabetes centers. Diabetes centers such as hospitals and foundations that cater to Type 1 diabetic patients refer patients to POHJD for dental treatment. POHJD then provides free/discounted dental treatment to these individuals. Patients are given insulin, syringes, and monitoring strips to encourage them to return for follow-up visits and to encourage good behavior such as brushing, flossing, and adequate blood sugar control.

This program uses the dental situation to teach type 1 diabetic patients about the bad effects of excessive sugar intake, the importance of monitoring and controlling their blood sugar levels, and the benefits of dietary compliance both to diabetes and oral health. It also teaches type 1 diabetics about Periodontitis, a disease that has been found to be more prevalent among diabetics. Periodontitis is usually undiagnosed because very few people know about it and because dentists rarely take the time to examine the presence of this disease among their patients.

Dental treatments for these children are provided by dentists undergoing post-graduate training in pediatric dentistry at the Pediatric Dentistry Center. Training of the dentist on diabetes was provided by the consultants of the Institute for Studies in Diabetes, Incorporated.

Funding for this program expired in 2007. The initiative is currently operating on a shoe-string budge and seeking additional donor funding.

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