mySmileBuddy

Preventing and Managing Tooth Decay for Children

“MySmileBuddy (MSB) – Preventing and Managing Tooth Decay for Socially-vulnerable Young Children.” MSB is a web-based digital health platform that guides parents of young children through the day-to-day management of risks for childhood tooth decay – the #1 chronic disease of U.S. children. MSB complements or minimizes the need for conventional high-cost dental treatment that is imposing on children and fails to prevent disease progression. MSB can improve child and family experience and long-term health outcomes at lower costs.

With over $9M in grant support since 2008, MSB has been developed, tested, and refined by a multidisciplinary team of dental, medical, social service, and education professionals. MSB builds on established theories of behavior change and principles of chronic disease management to help families adopt and sustain healthy family behaviors. MSB’s digital platform can be used by parents or delivered by “coaches” by telehealth or in home, community, office, or program sites – including Head Start, WIC, and Home Visiting Programs.

Research supporting MSB

In a 3-year pragmatic CMS-funded Medicaid innovation trial with 1207 affected children, parents found MSB to be feasible, acceptable, and positively impactful on their health knowledge and behaviors. Ninety-nine percent of parents said that they would recommend MSB. At the start of the trial 51% of parents considered their children’s oral health to be poor. After MSB, only 2% described their children’s oral health as poor. Additionally, caries progression stopped in more than half of young children with caries (57%).

In a 3-year NIH-funded study of 1639 pediatric dentists, 95% agreed with MSB’s approach to caries counseling and its components. Most endorsed behavioral goal setting (96%), action planning with families (78%) and providing follow up by phone or text (74%). They also found MSB to be acceptable to themselves and their staffs, feasible to implement, likely to become standard of care within 5-10 years, and consistent with scope of practice.

In a 2-year insurer-funded community-based pilot with a local health department, community health workers successfully trained as coaches (using MSB’s online learning management system); engaged parents in a variety of community sites; delivered MSB in multiple languages; addressed non-dental concerns by referral; and helped parents achieve their behavioral goals.