Impact of Early Head Start in North Carolina on dental care use among children younger than 3 years
Open accessAbstract
Objectives. To examine the effects of North Carolina Early Head Start (EHS), an early education program for low-income children younger than 3 years and their families, on dental care use among children. Methods. We performed a quasi-experimental study in which we interviewed 479 EHS and 699 non-EHS parent–child dyads at baseline (2010–2012) and at a 24-month follow-up (2012–2014). We estimated the effects of EHS participation on the probability of having a dental care visit after controlling for baseline dental care need and use and a propensity score covariate; we included random effects to account for EHS program clustering. Results. The odds of having a dental care visit of any type (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.74, 3.48) and having a preventive dental visit (adjusted OR = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.84, 3.63) were higher among EHS children than among non-EHS children. In addition, the adjusted mean number of dental care visits among EHS children was 1.3 times (95% CI = 1.17, 1.55) the mean number among non-EHS children. Conclusions. This study is the first, to our knowledge, to demonstrate that EHS participation increases dental care use among disadvantaged young children.
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The ZOE evaluation found that enrollment in Early Head Start increased dentist visits compared with non-enrollment.
“An evaluation of the impact of the intervention, known as Zero-out Early Childhood Caries (ZOE) found that enrollment in EHS increased dentist visits compared to non-enrollment.18”
From Access to preventive services after the integration of oral health care into early childhood education and medical care (2018) · cites this paper as [18]
The percentage of Early Head Start children with a preventive dental visit by age 3 was 79%, compared with 56% for non-enrolled children.
“The percentage of EHS children with a preventive dental visit by 3 years of age was 79% in EHS compared to 56% for those not enrolled.18”
From Access to preventive services after the integration of oral health care into early childhood education and medical care (2018) · cites this paper as [18]
A previous ZOE publication reported that Early Head Start enrollment increased the likelihood of any dental visit by 17.2% and of a preventive dental visit by 19.0% compared with non-enrolled community controls.
“In a previous publication from the ZOE study, we reported that enrollment in EHS increased the likelihood of a dental visit of any type by 17.2% and a preventive dental visit by 19.0% compared to non-enrolled community controls.18”
From Access to preventive services after the integration of oral health care into early childhood education and medical care (2018) · cites this paper as [18]
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- Authors
- Burgette, J. M., Preisser, J. S., Weinberger, M., King, R. S., Lee, J. Y., & Rozier, R. G.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Published
- 2017-04
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 614-620
- ISSN
- 0090-0036 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0048
- PMC
- PMC5343690
- OpenAlex
- W2588901341
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 2.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- UNC Libraries
- Funders
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (T32HS000032)
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (R01DE018236)
- Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Dental Health and Care Utilization
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Child and Adolescent Health
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- Early Head Start, dental care utilization, early childhood oral health, low-income children, preventive dental visits, early childhood programs, North Carolina
- MeSH terms
- Female, Health Promotion, Health Services Accessibility, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Infant, Interviews as Topic, Male, North Carolina, Socioeconomic Factors, Dental Care for Children, Vulnerable Populations
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