A new paper from a celebrated advocate for pediatric oral health and education argues for more public investment to help infants and toddlers get a head start on a lifetime of dental well-being.

DR. WINIFRED BOOKER—a humanitarian long cele­brated in these pages for her steadfast commitment to promoting children’s oral health—last fall published a compelling call to action, “One Baby, One Brush, One Dentist to Protect Us,” focusing on public health measures for infants and toddlers.

The campaign (an initiative of the Maryland Department of Health, the Maryland Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and several other organizations) aims to address challenges including tooth decay, improving access to care and, crucially, boosting the ranks of providers who accept Medicaid. It aligns with recommendations from pediatric dental groups that all children see a dentist even before their first birthday.

In her new paper, Dr. Booker, immediate past president of the Maryland State Dental Association, notes the numerous challenges facing doctors in the Old Line State: the ongoing aftermath of the pandemic, an exodus of doctors from the profession and limited operating room time for doctors who treat severe early-childhood caries.

Early-awareness strategies are especially important. “Investing in the oral health care of infants and toddlers to prevent disease is a prudent preservation of state finances,” Dr. Booker writes. “Educating parents, foster parents, guardians and all caregivers about the necessary preventive measures that must occur as soon as the first teeth erupt could influence disease reduction.”

Every idea, every proposal, every bit of any innovation with the potential to help improve oral health outcomes for families is worth all of our commitment to examination.

“One Baby, One Brush” is a collaborative effort among providers, patients and Maryland’s Medicaid program; Dr. Booker lauds positive steps taken by the Maryland Department of Health, such as increasing Medicaid dental fees for kids and adults alike, and including silver diamine fluoride as a covered benefit.

Dr. Booker’s past efforts have found a wide audience well beyond Maryland, and this clarion call seems certain to do the same. “Maryland and all state Medicaid organi­zations nationwide are welcomed, in fact they are encouraged, to duplicate the ‘One Baby, One Brush, One Dentist to Protect Us’ campaign or to launch similar movements,” she writes. “Every idea, every proposal, every bit of any innovation with the potential to help improve oral health outcomes for families is worth all of our commitment to examination.”

Read “One Baby, One Brush, One Dentist to Protect Us” at mycohi.org, the online home of Dr. Winifred Booker’s Children’s Oral Health Institute.