Increasing Oral Health in A Midwest Elementary School: Quality Improvement Project

Marginalized communities experience barriers to accessing oral healthcare in the United States (US). Due to this, many children are left to use the emergency department (ED) for dental care. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to improve oral health services access in children at one suburban Midwest elementary school. The objectives of this project were: a) to improve the efficiency of students registering in Fall 2023 to access available oral health exam services, b) to increase the number of students who receive an oral health exam compared to the number in the previous school year. The DNP student worked with faculty and oral health program leaders as stakeholders to gather information about program implementation and evaluate the program based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) conceptual framework. As part of the Fall 2023 school registration, parents were able to electronically register their children for a school-based oral health examination and educational intervention through an established oral health provider. Evaluation found that the ability to electronically register for the oral health examination increased participation by 8% from the previous school year. Interviews with stakeholders found that school-based interventions are not feasible in low-capacity schools, as they are already overtaxed with policy-based educational obligations. As an impact on practice, oral health care should take place in clinical settings, and nurses should advocate for it to be provided free-of-charge at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in the US.