Definition of Dental Home

Board takeaway

What the relationship must provide

• Safe, culturally sensitive care tailored to the individual.
• Comprehensive services with continuity, access, and coordination.
• Compassionate care centered on both patient and family.
• Inclusive care regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual or gender identity, medical status, family structure, or finances.

Scope and coordination

• Anticipatory guidance: help families prepare for oral health needs.
• Preventive care, acute care, and comprehensive oral health care.
• Referral to dental specialists when appropriate; referral belongs within the coordinated relationship.
• Use the dental-home policy to translate this definition into examination, an individualized preventive plan, emergency access, and continuity through referral and transition.

Common board traps

Answer aloud

What is a dental home, and when should it begin?

Establish an ongoing dental care relationship by 12 months of age.

• It provides comprehensive, continuous, accessible, coordinated, compassionate, culturally sensitive, and individualized care, including prevention, urgent care, anticipatory guidance, and specialist referrals.
• The primary team coordinates referrals and continuing care with the family.

What would you emphasize for a family facing access barriers?

Ask what prevents the family from obtaining and returning for care, then coordinate accessible services and referrals around those needs.

• The relationship must include ongoing preventive and acute care, with the family involved in decisions.
• An isolated visit or a list of referral telephone numbers is insufficient if continuing care remains inaccessible.