Utah's Oral Health Programs
Utah's Oral Health Programs
Utah's Oral Health Program works to provide education and services to the public, as well as dental and medical professionals.
Connecting clinics to classrooms: help shape healthy smiles
Your expertise can inspire lifelong healthy habits. We are seeking volunteer dental professionals, educators, school nurses, and early childhood specialists to lead fun, 30-minute oral health lessons in your local community.
Whether you visit a childcare center, elementary school, or middle school, you’ll be providing parents and children with the essential tools they need for a healthy future.
We've made it easy
To ensure a seamless experience, we provide a “plug-and-play” kit with everything you need for a great presentation. Each kit is hosted in Google Classroom and includes:
- Implementation list: Step-by-step instructions for your visit.
- Lesson Scripts & Slide Decks: Age-appropriate content designed to keep students engaged.
- Resource list: Information on local dental safety net clinics.
- Volunteer Tracking: A quick survey to help us measure our collective impact.
How to get started:
- Access the materials: Click the link below and sign in with your Google account. Click the green “Join Class” button to enter.
- Coordinate your visit: Reach out to a local school or early childhood center in your area to schedule a time that works for you.
- Present & inspire: Use our ready-made materials to share your passion for oral health.
Thank you, we appreciate your time and expertise in promoting oral health and presenting to your local community. You are making a difference.
Get dental care
Adolescent Oral Health Campaign
The Oral Health Program offers the Adolescent Oral Health Campaign (AOHC). The AOHC is an intervention designed to educate middle school students about oral health. The vision of the AOHC is to encourage positive oral health behaviors and increase use and participation in preventive dental services.
Since 2015, the AOHC has primarily reached middle school health classes in Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele and Weber-Morgan counties, presenting to approximately 2,500 students each school year.
Would you like to request a presentation? Email Lauren at [email protected]
Utah Oral Health Innovation Program (UOHIP)
Starting in 2022, PCRH began the Utah Oral Health Innovation Program (UOHIP). This program focuses on identifying dental care needs in the emergency rooms of 2 hospitals, Ashley Regional Medical Center and Uintah Basin Hospital. These hospitals are located in rural eastern Utah, and serve an area that does not have enough dentists, where patients often need help.
PCRH is training the Ashley Valley and Uintah Basin emergency department staff on how to refer dental emergencies to Mountainlands Community Health Center. The project also supports Mountainlands Community Health Center by helping them to expand services and staffing.
Watch for more information as this program evolves.
Opioid Overdose Prevention
Opioids are highly addictive narcotics commonly prescribed to treat pain. Opioids affect both the brain and body. Drug tolerance builds because the brain becomes less responsive to opioids the longer it’s exposed. Our bodies begin to build a tolerance for opioids, meaning we have to take more to get the same effect.
The DHHS Oral Health Program encourages dentists to utilize this toolkit to learn more about opioids.
The American Dental Association states, “Addiction to heroin, synthetic fentanyl, and other illicit drugs can easily start with first-time exposure to an opioid that is legally prescribed to treat a painful condition. And some clinical specialties—such as pain medicine, physical medicine/rehabilitation, emergency medicine, surgery and dentistry—will always see a higher proportion of these patients than others. It is inherent to the type of medicine they practice.”
Opioids are highly addictive narcotics commonly prescribed to treat pain. Opioids affect both the brain and body. Drug tolerance builds because the brain becomes less responsive to opioids the longer it’s exposed. Our bodies begin to build a tolerance for opioids, meaning we have to take more to get the same effect.
- Five Utahns die every week from opioid overdose and 80% of heroin users started with prescription opioids.
- Prescribing opioids by dentists has decreased in recent years, but it is still common to prescribe opioids for some oral health problems.
- The DHHS Oral Health Program encourages dentists to utilize this toolkit to learn more about opioids.