CHOP Researchers โฃUnveil Framework for Boosting Children’s Oral Health
Philadelphia, PA – Aโ new quality betterment initiative developed by researchers at Children’s hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has demonstrated a meaningful increase in theโฃ request of โdental fluoride varnish – a keyโฃ preventative measure against tooth decayโข in young children. Theโค findings, publishedโ today in the journal Pediatrics, offer a โคpotentially scalable โขmodel for improving children’s oral health nationwide.
Despite beingโ a safe and effective procedure with โขno โฃco-pay under mostโ insurance plans (including Medicaid andโ commercial insurance), โขnational rates of dental varnish application remain low. Prior to the study, fewer than โ10%โค of children with medicaid and 5% โwith commercial insurance received varnish applicationsโฃ during routine โขpediatric visits.
The CHOP study, conducted between July 2023 and Octoberโค 2024, aimed to address this gap. Researchers implemented a multifaceted approachโข including electronic health โคrecord prompts, practice-level education, certification audits, and financial incentives.The goal was to increase varnish applicationโค ratesโ for children aged 6 months to 5.99 โyearsโ from 5% to 20% โwithin one year,โฃ and to achieve equitable improvements across all insurance โฃtypes,โ races, and ethnicities.
The results โฃexceeded expectations. Across 92,056 eligible โpreventiveโข careโฃ visits,โฃ varnish application rates rose from 3.7% pre-intervention to 30.5%. More than half of children (50%) received varnish annually, a substantial increase from the 25% baseline. Adoption of the new practices expanded from 6 to all 33 network sites. Furthermore, insurance reimbursementโ for varnish applications โขincreased during the studyโ period.
“Our study shows that with a few quality improvement โstrategies, we โขcan considerably improve the rates of dentalโ fluoride varnish application across a pediatric networkโข and may have an easy-to-implement model that could help improve rates at aโ national level,” saidโ Brian Jenssen, โMD, Primary Care Pediatrician at CHOPโค and โฃAssociate Director โof โClinicalโ Impact at clinical Futures at โCHOP.
The study’s success โhighlights the potential for targeted interventionsโ to improve preventative dentalโ care for young children, ultimately contributing toโ better long-term โoral health โoutcomes.
Source: โฃ Children’s Hospital โขof Philadelphia
journal Reference: Jenssen, B. P.,โข et al. โข(2025) Increasing Dental โขVarnish Rates in a Large Pediatric โคCare Network:โ A Quality Improvement Effort. Pediatrics. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2024-069877.