KDHRC announces launch of Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana (Strong Teeth, Healthy Life).

–October 2018

KDH Research and Communication proudly announces the launch of Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana (Strong Teeth, Healthy Life), a training program for promotores conducting children’s dental health outreach with low-income Latino families.

For release on October 11, 2018 from Laura Gover (lgover@kdhrc.com).

Minority and low-income children, including Latino children, suffer cavities in greater numbers and often with worse consequences than white, non-Hispanic children. To help overcome this public health problem, KDH Research & Communication proudly announces the launch of the Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana (Strong Teeth, Healthy Life) (DFVS), a training program that prepares promotores – or lay health workers – at community-based organizations to conduct dental health outreach to low-income Latino parents of children from birth to age six. Working through promotores, DFVS aims to improve parents’ dental health literacy and dental health system navigation skills to prevent their children’s primary tooth decay.

Developed with input from key leaders in the dental community, health experts, and promotores trainers and informed by research on best practices in training development, DFVS includes a publicly available website (www.dientesfuertes.com) with comprehensive educational courses for promotores to learn how to successfully and appropriately conduct dental health outreach. The DFVS program also contains three bilingual components: an Implementation Guide, a Facilitator’s Guide, and a video series. The Implementation Guide provides detailed information for community-based organizations to build their capacity to implement the DFVS program. The Facilitator’s Guide includes six sessions for a facilitator to implement with promotores and is supplemented with step-by-step instructions, activities, and training materials for each of the sessions. The video series reinforces the training sessions’ key points through storytelling and models tooth decay prevention outreach for discussion in each session.

Principle Investigator Dr. Eric Twombly explains, “Childhood tooth decay creates substantial monetary costs and negative external effects that burden the dental health system in the United States and elsewhere, an empirical fact that is particularly evident in low-income communities. The best and most effective course of action is to prevent cavities in children, rather than treating them with costly procedures after cavities form. Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana shows promising evidence as a cost-conscious program to prevent childhood tooth decay in low-income, Latino communities.”

To learn more about Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana, visit www.dientesfuertes.com.

If you are a CBO director interested in licensing DFVS for a training, summit, or event please contact Laura Gover at lgover@kdhrc.com or 404-998-9171.

Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana was made possible by a Fast Track Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant (number R44DE023713) from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health.  Its content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research or the National Institutes of Health.

About KDH Research & Communication

KDH Research & Communication translates scientific information and research and best practices into powerful programs and designs and conducts rigorous research that improve the health and well-being of youth, families, and communities. Through effectively applied research, KDH Research & Communication seeks to help people manage physical, cognitive, or environmental challenges and achieve healthier and more successful lives.

Dientes Fuertes, Vida Sana fits into KDH Research & Communication’s Latino Health focus area, which produces and evaluates impactful and culturally appropriate health programming and research on a wide range of topics and issues facing Latino families and children. KDH Research and Communication’s long-standing work and commitment to Latino health began in 2008 with funding from the National Institutes of Health. You can learn more about related Latino Health projects at https://kdhrc.wpengine.com/latino-health/.

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Key Project Contacts

Eric C. Twombly, Principal Investigator | etwombly@kdhrc.com | 404-968-8008

Nicole I. Wanty, Program Manager | nwanty@kdhrc.com | 404-968-8005

Laura Gover, Communications and Research Specialist | lgover@kdhrc.com | 404-998-9171

Related Links

http://www.dientesfuertes.com/

https://kdhrc.wpengine.com/latino-health/

https://www.facebook.com/latinohealthresources/