Through the SF DTI LDPP, care coordination will be provided to children 0-5 years to help connect them to preventive dental services. In partnership with San Francisco Unified School District School Health Programs, the Department of Public Health will provide dental care coordination through bilingual Health Workers stationed at both organizations.
Prior to the SF DTI LDPP, only 5% of the 14,300 Medi-Cal beneficiaries 0-5 years in San Francisco receive dental care coordination. The SF DTI LDPP aims to provide care coordination more than 3,000 caregivers and parents each year to provide education and assistance with scheduling routine preventive dental appointments for children 0-5 years of age.
Referral Process
Children 0-5 years are referred for dental care coordination through two referral processes:
San Francisco Department of Public Health Health Workers stationed at the San Francisco Department of Public Health receive dental care coordination referrals from medical providers. Medical Providers serving San Francisco children 0-5 years on Medi-Cal can refer their pediatric patients to receive care coordination through SF DTI LDPP. For dental care coordination referral instructions for medical providers, pleaseclick here. To view referral workflow at SFDPH, please click here.
San Francisco Unified School District Health Workers stationed at the San Francisco Unified School District receive referrals for care coordination through the Kindergarten Oral Health Screening program. Kindergartners in San Francisco public schools are screened annually for cavities, and children identified as needing early dental care or urgent dental care will be referred to the SF DTI LDPP program to receive dental care coordination.
To view referral workflow at SFUSD, please click here.
Training and Support
Through the SF DTI LDPP, Health Workers are trained in Motivational Interviewing skills over the 4 years of the project to help them engage caregivers and parents, elicit change talk and evoke self-efficacy and motivation to make changes that will make lasting impact on their children's oral health.
In addition, through activities in Pilot 3 Health Promotion Messaging, Health Workers will receive education on caregiver attitudes and beliefs that act as barriers to accessing preventive dental care for children 0-5. Health Workers will receive training on culturally specific messaging and resources that can help the caregivers of diverse communities to connect their children to preventive dental services.
Every year, SFUSD partners with SFDPH to provide an annual oral health screening to kindergartners. The annual oral health screenings is an important surveillance of the overall oral health of kindergartners citywide. Prior to SF DTI LDPP, dental care coordination was not available to the families of children found to have cavities through the screening. Now, through this partnership, SF DTI LDPP is able to close the loop and connect children with cavities to the dental services they need to treat their cavities and to maintain their oral health.
San Francisco Dental Transformation Initiative Local Dental Pilot Project 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 210 San Francisco, CA 94102
