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Before the First Tooth (BTFT) wants prenatal care providers to spread the word that having dental care services during pregnancy is both safe and effective.  Many physiological changes occur during pregnancy that may affect a woman’s teeth.  Good home care and regular visits to the dentist are essential at this time.  BTFT is conducting a pilot in which participating prenatal providers perform an oral health risk assessment on patients, educate them on good oral health for themselves and their infants, and refer them to dentists.  If you are a prenatal care provider who is interested in participating in the pilot, please email mhfirsttooth@mmc.org.

Here are what pilot participants are saying about the pilot project:
“Even after the pilot, we plan on continuing with this workflow, as dental health is so valuable to the patients’ overall care.”—Practice Administrator

“In my experience, Before the First Tooth has been an invaluable program for our OB patients.  It has become easy to incorporate dental assessments and referrals into our initial OB intakes, after a slightly bumpy start.  We have had an overwhelmingly positive response from our patients; many of whom had not previously had access to dental care due to financial constraints.”—Ellen Johnston, MDFP OB RN

 

Participants (past and present) of the Before the First Tooth pilot project include:

  • Central Maine Medical Center OB
  • Coastal Women’s Healthcare
  • Down East Community Hospital Women’s Health Center
  • Elsemore Dixfield Family Medicine
  • Franklin Health Women’s Care
  • MaineGeneral Medical Center Centering Program
  • MaineGeneral Medical Center Dartmouth Family Practice
  • MaineGeneral Medical Center OB GYN Clinic
  • Maine Medical Partners Family Medicine, Portland
  • Penobscot Bay OB GYN
  • Pines Health Women’s Children’s & Dental
  • Southern Maine Women’s Health
  • St. Mary’s Women’s Health Associates
  • Swift River Family Medicine
  • Waldo County Family Practice – Women’s Health