Well-Being Outcome 3

Children receive adequate services to meet their physical and mental health needs.

Item 17:
What is the expected periodicity of dental exams in rating Item 17?
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends dental exams every 6 months that include oral screening, risk assessment, and preventive care for most children. Some children need more frequent dental visits because of increased risk factors such as increased rate of tooth decay, unusual growth patterns of teeth, or history of poor oral hygiene. When determining whether the frequency of dental visits is sufficient with a pattern of less than every 6 months, factors that should be considered include whether the last dental visit was within 1 year and whether there was no evidence of tooth decay or disease. When determining whether the frequency of dental visits should be more than every 6 months, factors that should be considered include whether the child has a history of decay or disease based on the results of the last dental visit or a history of poor oral hygiene.
Item 17 (A2):
What age is considered too young for a dental exam?
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that children see a dentist as soon as their first tooth comes in or by their first birthday. The same guidelines are used in the Early & Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment Services program.
Item 18:
In some cases, there are many services being provided for the child’s mental/behavioral health, including medication, but the child’s behavior, placement stability, etc. is not improving. How do reviewers consider the progress of the child or lack thereof in rating this item?
Reviewers are expected to evaluate the quality of assessments and services provided to ensure that adequate efforts were made to address needs. If a child/youth is not progressing, we would expect to see that the agency has made efforts to continually assess the adequacy of therapeutic interventions and make needed modifications. Reviewers should look at relevant reports, assessments, and conduct appropriate interviews when possible to determine the adequacy of services provided. The rating for Item 18 should reflect the adequacy of efforts made by the agency to assess needs accurately and ensure services appropriate for meeting those needs. There may be situations where a child’s behavior does not show improvement despite the best efforts to address concerns, and that should not negatively affect the rating.