Postdoctoral Training in General, Pediatric and Public Health Dentistry and Dental Hygiene - ABSTRACT Grant Program: HRSA-25-075 Postdoctoral Training in General, Pediatric, and Public Health Dentistry Project Title: Smile Oklahoma! Increasing Access to Pediatric Dental Care Project Director: Dr. Autumn Hurd Applicant Organization Name: Oklahoma Pediatric Dentistry Residency Address: 1200 Children’s Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73104 Contact Telephone: 303-919-6844 Web Site Address: http:// https://dentistry.ouhsc.edu/pediatric-dentistry E-Mail Address: autumn-hurd@ouhsc.edu Project Period: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2030 The purpose of the Smile Oklahoma! project is to improve access to and delivery of oral health care services in rural and underserved populations at the community, state, and national level by enhancing the education of pediatric dentistry residents to prepare them for care of patients from disadvantaged backgrounds with complex medical and dental conditions. To achieve the desired outcome, we must A) maintain and improve our newly initiated residency training program, B) provide financial assistance to trainees enrolled in our program through GME funding as well as other sources of funding, and C) invest in the development of the faculty and staff that support our trainees. Our project proposes to address HRSA’s focus areas of rural training sites and underserved populations. Although not a fully applicable focus area of our project, through innovative curriculum, our residents will be exposed to expansive content in dental public health. The specific project purposes match HRSA-25-075’s objectives: i) to increase the number of postdoctoral trained pediatric dentists who choose to practice in rural or underserved areas in CBOs, ii) to prepare dentists to address the oral health needs of people from disadvantaged backgrounds with complex dental conditions, iii) to increase the number of dentists trained to manage oral health programs, evaluate systems of care, and design surveillance systems to measure oral health statuses, and iv) to evaluate the program, including examination of processes and progress toward goals, program objectives, and expected outcomes. The desired outcomes specific to our proposal are: 1) provide dental care in community-based organizations (CBOs) in Oklahoma, 2) increase Pediatric Dentistry (PD) resident service and training in community-based clinics in Oklahoma, 3) increase Oklahoma PD resident education in Dental Public Health (DPH), inclusive of cultural competency, health literacy, medical-dental integration, leadership of practice transformation, and management of population health focused on reduction of oral disease, 4) increase the number of Oklahoma PD residents recruited and enrolled from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds, 5) increase the number of Oklahoma PD residency graduates who practice in community-based organizations, and 6) disseminate Smile Oklahoma! project results at the local, state, and national level. The over-arching mission is that with intentional exposures and experiences in their training, graduates will likely choose to practice in CBOs in rural and underserved areas. The Smile Oklahoma! project qualifies for 6 funding priorities as detailed in application attachment 6.
