Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Advancing Oral Health Through Targeted and Collaborative Interventions - OOH will use secondary data analysis to prioritize underserved populations in Maryland for increased awareness of, and increased access to Evidence-Based Preventive Dental Service (EBPDS). These services include optimally fluoridated water, oral disease surveillance, increasing provision of fluoride varnish and dental sealants, and effective practice of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). The strategies and outcomes OOH will use to achieve this are: a. Community Water Fluoridation - Increase receipt of fluoridation data, from systems state wide, especially among water systems serving 10,000 or fewer people: Increase proportion of water systems reporting fluoridation data to Water Fluoridation Reporting System (WFRS) from 51% to 62%; Increase proportion of small water systems reporting fluoridation data to WFRS from 33% to 40%. Increase access to water from optimally fluoridated water systems state wide, especially among water systems serving 10,000 or fewer people: Increase proportion of population served by optimally fluoridated community water systems (CWS) from 3% to 9%; Maintain proportion of population served by fluoridated CWS at 93.2%; Increase number of mini-grants awarded to CWS from 3 to 6. b. Data Analysis to Support Medical Dental Integration and EBPDS - Increase dissemination of analyzed secondary data about relationships between the oral health of adults with Type 2 diabetes, overall health, as well as their use of and access to medical and dental care: Increase number of publicly disseminated products that summarize analyses of secondary surveillance data about relationships between the oral health of adults with type 2 diabetes, overall health, as well as their use of and access to medical and dental care from 0 to 18. c. Evidence Based Preventive Dental Services - Increase availability of and access to local/small area and state program data, EBPDS programs, and information about Medicaid/CHIP-enrolled children receiving EBPDS within Maryland: Increase proportion of eligible students in schools served who received sealants by 10%; Increase proportion of eligible students in schools served who received fluoride varnish by 15%; Increase number of eligible schools with EBPDS programs within each recipient jurisdiction by 10%. d. Infection Prevention and Control - Increase awareness and use of dental IPC recommendations and resources, especially among EBPDS school programs, and other dental programs or facilities serving communities with oral health disparities: Increase number of funded recipient staff completing IPC training from 62% to 100%; Increase number of programs operating in dental programs or facilities serving communities with oral health disparities that receive IPC resources or training promotion activities from 0% to 100%; Increase number of sealant program staff serving EBPDS priority schools who have completed Foundations training from 0% to 100%, among clinical staff. These outcomes will be accomplished in collaboration with stakeholders which have the same mission and vision as OOH, to reduce health disparities of Marylanders. Water systems will be prioritized by need to receive optimal fluoridation, oral health inequities of people with diabetes will be identified, schools will be prioritized to receive EBPDS based on their ability to improve health equity, and community clinics will receive additional training on IPC. These interventions will increase health equity through disease prevention in underserved communities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).