CI Selects New England Research Institute to Assist with Statewide Oral Health Needs Assessment
The CI has selected the New England Research Institutes (NERI), in association with the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, to collect oral health information about school children and community dwelling adults in Massachusetts. Oral health information about kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade school children will be obtained by conducting an open-mouth oral health screening survey. Oral health information about adults will be obtained by conducting a telephone survey.
These data will be used in support of several essential oral health activities, including:
- Monitoring oral health status to identify community oral health problems,
- Informing, educating, and empowering people about oral health issues,
- Mobilizing community partnerships to identify and solve oral health problems,
- Developing policies and plans that support individual and community oral health efforts,
- Linking people to needed personal health services and assuring the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable, and
- Evaluating the effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based oral health services.
The assessment will take one year to complete, and a full report of the findings will be released in the fall of 2007. Check back to this Web site for regular updates on the progress of the assessment.
