Fluoride Varnish Application (FVA) preventive training is a foundation for a clinic establishing a Childhood Caries Prevention Program and includes training on the application of fluoride varnish. The training takes approximately 1 hour, including the portion on fluoride varnish training.   There are three parts to the Childhood Caries Prevention Training.  Keep a copy of our CEU document and the email you receive on the...

Sharing Our Outcomes INTRODUCTION: Child Oral Health in Minnesota In 2005, oral health care for young children was a subtly explored topic for many in public health. Unless you were a dentist, dental hygienist, or other dental specialist, community-centered messages were few and far between concerning brushing, flossing, and having fluoride varnish applications (FVA). This is no longer true. Today, Minnesota has a strong,...

We would like to express our sincere appreciation for all those who have made MNOHP a successful oral health care initiative over the last 15 years.  To our Leadership Team for their generous volunteer time to promote the project; our consultants for taking our message into the community with children and families; and White Buffalo Websites for the wonderful work on our website, education...

An interview with Linda Maytan, DDS, MPH Linda Maytan, DDS, MPH Author and Interviewer: Barbara Greene, MPH Linda Maytan, DDS, MPH is the MN Department of Human Services Dental Policy Director for Minnesota Health Care Programs (Medicaid).  She has observed oral health care outcomes among Minnesota’s children and has a broad perspective as a policy maker and a former dental practitioner.   Dr. Maytan believes,...

An Interview with Dr. Prasida Khanal, BDS, MPH (Honors) Dr. Prasida Khanal, BDS, MPH (Honors) Prasida Khanal, BDS, MPH (Honors) is the State Oral Health Director at the Minnesota Department of Health. She is foreign-trained dentist with a public health background and holds a certificate in project management. Interviewer and Author: Barbara Greene, MPH, Senior Health Consultant Serving Children From Nepal to Minnesota Dr....

Melissa Walden, Consultant and Educator By Melissa Walden, MNONP Consultant and Educator “1-2-3…Come read, brush, sing and play with me!” Preschool and family story hours are powerful, interactive ways to reach families with young children on good oral health practices and early caries prevention! Throughout 2019, we read and shared the Minnesota Oral Health Project’s (MNOHP) new book, “Bye, Bye Germs”, at city and...

By Barbara Greene, MPH, Consultant & Educator Dr. Amos Deinard, Jr., MD, MPH The Fluoride Guy Amos S. Deinard, Jr., MD, MPH is well-known in health care circles as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School and School of Public Health. While this is his official title, he is most frequently known as “The Fluoride Guy”. Dr. Deinard, or...

By Barbara Greene, MPH, Consultant & Educator Establishing new family rituals for brushing teeth is an excellent way to make brushing and bedtime oral health preparation easier! Parents often tell us, “I let my daughter brush my teeth sometimes, so she will let me brush hers without argument.” Still others create nightly rituals by suggesting, “You brush for a while, then I’ll brush for...

Nasra Budul, Community Health Worker (CHW), Ready Set Smile Nasra Budul is an oral health educator and Community Health Worker in Minneapolis public and charter schools. As an educator of children age fourteen and younger, Nasra is keenly aware of oral health disparities within her Somali community. She educates school systems, helps get children to preventive dental visits twice each school year, and visits...

Dr. Havva Zeynep Ertugrul, DMD Diverse patients and backgrounds For the last nine years, Havva Zeynep Ertugrul, DMD, has brought oral care to the pediatric patients at Community University Health Care Center (CUHCC) in the urban, ethnically diverse Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis. Dr. Ertugrul provides restorative and preventive oral health care, including fluoride varnish, for multicultural children. Many of the children she treats are...