Coordinated Oral Health Promotion (CO-OP) Chicago

Dental caries is the most common chronic disease of childhood; an estimated 28% of children
nationally aged 5 years and below have untreated dental disease. Pediatric dental caries are
associated with pain, more severe infections, malnutrition, speech difficulties, poor school
performance, cosmetic problems, and an overall lower quality of life. Similar to other
chronic diseases, oral health disparities are seen with higher caries prevalence and worse
outcomes in children from low income urban families and in children of African American and
Latino ethnicity. These disparities have been demonstrated locally in Chicago. Many
interventions have been implemented to attempt to reverse these disparities. Some involve
public policy (fluorinated water), some are educational campaigns targeting individuals,
while others focus on providing increased education and services through primary healthcare
providers. Many of these programs have demonstrated efficacy but the disparities in oral
health persist. The investigators propose this is because the interventions to date do not
target the family as a whole and also have not targeted multiple levels simultaneously.

COordinated Oral health Promotion (CO-OP) Chicago brings together a team of clinical
pediatricians and dentists, health researchers, and policy experts to rigorously test the
ability of multiple oral health promotion interventions, both alone and in combination, to
improve child and family oral health. The primary intervention is family-focused education
and support from community health workers (CHWs). CO-OP Chicago will test the impact of a
family-focused CHW intervention for oral health promotion when applied in clinical,
community, and home settings. The primary study objective is to evaluate the efficacy of a
one-year oral health CHW intervention, compared to usual care, to improve self-reported
brushing frequency and observed plaque score in low income urban children under the age of 3
years old. The study's exploratory aim is to determine if the oral health CHW intervention
impact on child tooth brushing behaviors varies when the CHWs are based out of a medical
clinic compared to a community WIC center.

Inclusion Criteria:

Caregiver:

- Provide a signed and dated informed consent form

- Age 18 or older

- Be the primary caregiver of a child age 6-36 months old. The primary caregiver is
defined for this study as the person (or one of the people) who is consistently
responsible for the child's daily routines and who is a legal guardian.

- If a child lives in multiple households, the caregiver must live with the child at
least 5 days of the week.

- The child must be an active patient/client in the clinic/center where recruited.

- Speak English or Spanish

- Willing to comply with all study procedures and be available for the duration of the
study

Child:

- Age 6-36 months old

- An active patient/client in the clinic/center where recruited

- A minimum of two fully erupted central maxillary incisors

Exclusion Criteria:

- Child with medical condition that limits his or her ability to conduct the study
activities (such as severe developmental or cognitive delay, ventilator or oxygen
dependence, oral aversion, severe facial deformities)

- Anything that would place the individual at increased risk or preclude the
individual's full compliance with or completion of the study

- Anything that would place the research or intervention staff at increased risk