Background
The ADA’s mission endorses a commitment to the public’s oral health, professional ethics, science and professional advancement, and leads a unified profession through initiatives in advocacy, education, research and the development of standards.
In support of its mission, the ADA is pleased to announce the development of a new member of the oral health team, a Community Dental Health Coordinator (CDHC). The CDHC will be responsible for promoting oral health through organized and dentally coordinated community-based promotion and prevention programs. As a member of the dental team led by a dentist, the CDHC will work in underserved communities where residents have no or limited access to dental care.
CDHC candidates are drawn from the communities in which they will serve, thus ensuring a degree of effectiveness in overcoming social barriers that can prevent access to available oral health services. They will influence local health and community organizations to adopt initiatives to promote oral health.
The CDHC will be new allied dental personnel employed by Federally Qualified Health Clinics, the Indian Health Service and tribal clinics, state or county public health clinics, or private practitioners serving the dentally underserved areas.
The ADA is committed to helping resolve barriers to access to oral health and to promoting oral health through community-based initiatives. The CDHC program is the outcome of one such initiative.
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Committee
The National Coordinating and Development Committee (NCDC) was established to create a CDHC model training program. In 2006, the Workforce Models NCDC was charged with identifying funding to pilot the training program in three sites, monitoring the pilot programs and reporting progress to the ADA Board of Trustees and the ADA Foundation.
Members of the Workforce Models NCDC and Curriculum Committee (CC) were appointed by the ADA President and have expertise in dentistry, dental education, public health, instructional design and program evaluation.
The Workforce Models NCDC called for letters of interest to identify potential institutions for piloting the program. Interested schools, institutions and other organizations were invited to submit a letter of interest for participation in both developing the model curriculum under Phase 1 and serving as a pilot training site under Phase 2.
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Phase 1
Phase 1 of the program involved development of a model CDHC training program by the ADA’s Workforce Models NCDC and CC. Approximately 18 months in length, the model program includes a comprehensive curriculum with objectives, outlines, teaching aides, resources, learning activities and evaluation mechanisms. Funded by the ADA Foundations, Phase 1 was initiated in November 2006 and concluded in December 2007.
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Phase 2
Phase 2 calls for the CDHC training program model to be piloted in urban, rural and Native American reservations. There are currently 12 students enrolled in the training program which commenced in March 2009. This first cohort of students is anticipated to graduate in September 2010.
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Pilot Training Sites
The pilot training program sites are:
- The rural site—University of Oklahoma, with Rio Salado College (Arizona) delivering the on-line components of the curriculum. The hands-on clinical training will occur in Indian Health Service facilities and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
- The Native American site—UCLA and Salish Kootenai College, with Rio Salado College (Arizona) delivering the on-line components of the curriculum. The hands-on clinical training will occur in Indian Health Service facilities in several different states.
- An urban site, to be finalized in 2009, will be announced very soon. The training for urban-based CDHCs will occur in Federal Qualified Health Centers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Download the Frequently Asked Questions and CDHC Curriculum Outline documents for additional information.
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CDHC Curriculum Outline
The number of training hours and an overview of the online curriculum is included in the outline, which is available to download below.
- Community Dental Health Coordinator Curriculum Outline | PDF file/69k
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