Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Virginia's Promotion of Strategies to Advance Oral Health Project - Project Title: Virginia’s Promotion of Strategies to Advance Oral Health Applicant Organization Name: Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Address: 109 Governor Street, 9th floor, Richmond, Virginia 23219 Project Director Name: Tonya McRae Adiches, Dental Health Programs Manager Contact Phone Numbers: (804) 864-7774 (voice), (804) 864-7783 (fax) E-Mail: tonya.adiches@vdh.virginia.gov Web Site: http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/oral-health/ Number of Years of Support Requested: 3 Oral health strategies including Community Water Fluoridation (CWF) and Evidence-based preventive Dental Services (EBPDS) like sealants and fluoride are proven to prevent cavities and save money and are key components of Virginia’s State Oral Health Program (SOHP). Updating and improving Infection Prevention and Control guidelines support these services in dental settings. Oral health surveillance including data collection, analysis, and reporting is also an important aspect of the SOHP. Additionally, Medical-Dental Integration (MDI) is a focus as oral health is an important part of overall health and wellness. Currently, over 96% of Virginians served by community water systems receive fluoridated water. the SOHP will continue to monitor and report CWF activities through a partnership with the VDH Office of Drinking Water including documentation of public water systems that adjust fluoride and proportion of people served. Staff will provide education on the benefits, safety, and effectiveness of maintaining recommended fluoride levels to a variety of audiences and disciplines. Staff will maintain awareness of policy changes and actions that support and promote quality control and management of fluoridated water systems. To facilitate maintenance of existing fluoridation systems and expansion of CWF to new water systems, the SOHP will continue to assess water systems bi-annually, prioritize fluoridation funding needs, especially for water systems reaching 10,000 people or less, and leverage existing federal funds to provide grants for equipment upgrades and initiations. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) funding allowed VDH to establish SSPs in the state’s most underserved areas. However, there is more work to be done. Of the 948 schools in Virginia that have at least 50% of students qualified for the federal free and reduced meal program, the SOHP was only able to serve 167 (20.8%) schools in the 2023 – 2024 school year with existing resources. Expanding the availability of SSPs is necessary to improve access to this cost-effective means of dental decay prevention. VDH will expand the reach of existing SSPs through partnerships. EBPDS programming reaches Virginians facing oral health disparities and includes data analysis and dissemination to increase awareness, inform program planning and improve oral health outcomes. VDH will build on its current Infection Control and Prevention (IPC) plan to increase awareness of IPC guidelines in traditional and non-traditional settings statewide. Virginia has a proven history of implementing successful MDI efforts and is fortunate to have the institutional knowledge of staff and partners to collaborate across Virginia, to explore missed opportunities in reaching adults with Type 2 Diabetes across Virginia. This program will analyze secondary data on the relationship between oral health and overall health in Diabetics as well disparities in access to needed medical and dental services. Approaching this work collaboratively, SOHP will build upon successful population-based oral disease prevention and surveillance programs to expand and improve targeted interventions regarding evidence-based practices utilizing a multidimensional approach to assess, identify, and address oral disease burden, unmet needs, barriers in treatment access and oral health disparities among Virginians for CWF, MDI, EBPDS and IPC programs.
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).