Review Article

Year : 2021 | Volume : 9 | Issue : 1 | Page : 6 - 11

Dental Home

R. Ramesh, S. Nandan, S. H. Krishnamoorthy, Allwin Antony, R. Geetha1

Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, KVG Dental College and Hospital, Sullia, Karnataka, India, 1

General Dental Surgeon, Al Fahaleel, Kuwait

Address for correspondence:

Dr. R. Ramesh,

Tc 85/1984 (2), Geetha Bhavan, Seeveli Nagar, Kaithamukku, Trivandrum ‐ 695 024, Kerala, India.

E‐mail: rameshkdc@gmail.com

Abstract

The Dental Home is a concept that comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ “medical home.” A “medical home” is a pediatrician’s practice where a child has a relationship with that care provider. It is well-established that children that have a medical home are healthier, have fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits. They also have better managed chronic illnesses. This is because of the “patient centered / family centered” approach of the medical home where doctors are accountable to developing sustained partnerships with patients and families to address a majority of their healthcare needs. Similar to the medical home, the dental home offers the patients comprehensive, continuous, prevention-based care that is accessible, family-centered, compassionate, and culturally competent. Citing strong clinical evidence that early preventive dental care promotes oral health, the AAPD declared that “the establishment of a dental home may follow the medical home model as a cost-effective and higher quality health care alternative to emergency care situations”.

Keywords: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, anticipatory guidance, dental home

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article:

Ramesh R, Nandan S, Krishnamoorthy SH, Antony A, Geetha R. Dental home. Int J Community Dent 2021;9:6-11.