CHWTraining Releases New Course for Under-served Communities: “Oral Health Disparities”

Online training offers guidance for community health workers, case managers, and others to bridge gaps in oral-health awareness and access

Woburn, Mass., Feb. 14, 2020 – CHWTraining, a trusted provider of educational support and structure that enables organizations to build healthier communities from Talance, Inc., has added the new online course “Oral Health Disparities.” The 2- to 3-hour self-guided training is designed for people who need to show clients and caregivers how to improve oral health while navigating social determinates of health.

Oral Health Disparities,” available in English and Spanish, is ideal for clinical and non-clinical staff, including community health workers, promotoras de salud, case managers, patient navigators, support staff, and more.

Many people in the United States fail to understand the profound relationship between oral health and overall well-being. The mouth can show signs of nutritional gaps or general infection. Poor oral health reduces quality of life and is related to chronic systemic conditions, including stroke, heart and lung disease, and diabetes.

But significant disparities remain in oral care across different populations, where oral-health literacy can be negatively affected by factors ranging from race and ethnicity to socioeconomic status, geography, culture, language, gender, and age.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, non-Hispanic blacks, and Mexican Americans between 35 and 44 years of age experience untreated tooth decay nearly twice as much as white non-Hispanics. Latino children have higher rates of tooth decay, rampant decay, and treatment need compared to non-Latino white children. Many people living in less-affluent urban and rural areas either can’t afford dental insurance or face other barriers—including language, culture, or a lack of available information and resources—to finding and receiving oral care. Poor dental health in under-served communities can correlate to chronic conditions ranging from heart disease to diabetes to brain degeneration and more.

However, oral disease is preventable with the proper training. Oral Health Disparities helps employers, health systems, agencies, and health departments invest in training that promotes prevention and coordinates care among at-risk patients.

The course provides oral-health training and support for healthcare workers on various oral-health aspects, including teaching clients the basics of good oral care and dietary choices, learning to recognize oral signs of health or substance-use issues, and helping to bridge gaps and barriers to quality care.

About CHWTraining

CHWTraining provides online training-technology tools to organizations that want to create workers who transform health in America’s communities. It’s perfect for training new employees who need core competencies or standardizing training for existing staff—on their own time. The assessment-based certificates confirm that participants can demonstrate their knowledge.

About Talance

At Talance, we believe we all have a civic responsibility to help build healthy communities. Since 2000, we’ve collaborated with educators, advocates, health practitioners, governments, and employers to drive positive, lasting change in the environments where people actually live and work. Talance delivers online community-health education that is trusted by clients across the nation, who rely on our expertise to help develop custom curricula or tap into our original course library that is developed by a professional team of industry leaders.

Interested in educating your team in oral-health disparities? Contact us to learn how at www.chwtraining.org/contact.