Megan Aucutt, BA: No financial relationships to disclose
Description: The objective of the project was to create an innovative campaign to merge our stillbirth prevention best practices and implement educational outreach regarding oral health as it relates to pregnancy - with an emphasis on reducing barriers and access to receiving dental care among women of color. The methods we used to collect data were a mixture of focus groups, and digital and in-person surveys to learn more about why expectant parents of color were not seeking dental care during pregnancy. Our results indicated that most expectant parents - especially BIPOC individuals did not visit the dentist during their most recent pregnancy. We discovered through our in-person survey that 57% of the respondents did not see the dentist - citing reasons such as “I don’t think it’s safe during pregnancy.” This project with Delta Dental allowed us to connect the dots between healthcare providers, dentists, and expectant parents. Working directly with our Health Equity Coordinator we developed a series of PSAs, featuring women of color, and social media to be used in areas of the state with higher incidences of stillbirth rates + higher populations of the BIPOC community living and working. In conclusion, we are looking to expand this project to dental schools - teaching the next generation of dental providers about stillbirth prevention as well as training healthcare providers on why and how to talk to their patients about good oral health during pregnancy. We are replicating the success we have seen in Iowa in other states.
