Faculty Profile
Address
601 West 168th Street
Suite 21
New York, NY 10032
Phone.212-342-3550
Fax. 413-677-4286
Education and Training |
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| BA | Harpur College, State Univerity of New York at Binghamton | |
| DDS | State University of New York at Buffalo School of Dentistry | |
| MPH | Harvard University School of Public Health | |
Affiliations
Section of Social and Behavioral Sciences, CDM
Division of Behavioral Sciences
Department of Health Policy & Management
Burton L. Edelstein DDS MPH Professor of Clinical Dentistry and Clinical Health Policy & Management |
Research Summary
We engage in studies that inform public and private policymakers so that they can act based on sound information and administer programs that effectively increase access to dental care and improve the oral health of America's children. Our studies of dental care financing and delivery, analyses of legislation, evaluation of programs, and work on the integration of primary medical and dental care all have direct policy implications. We utilize qualitative and quantitative research methods, rely on epidemiologic reasoning, build clinical and public policy arguments based on scientific evidence and scientific rationales, and conduct studies that address specific governmental activities. The output of our work is as likely to be a "policy brief" or "monograph" aimed at a specific professional, advocacy, or governmental community as it is a peer-reviewed article. For example, we have authored reports entitled, "Increasing access to dental care through public/private partnerships: Contracting between private dentists and federally qualified health centers” and “State options in contracting dental care in Medicaid." A second area of interest involves the medical management of pediatric dental caries by employing social, behavioral, educational, and pharmaco-therapeutic interventions with a special emphasis on perinatal and early childhood populations.
Selected Publications
1. Edelstein BL. The dental caries pandemic and disparities problem. In Proceedings of the Conference on Biotech and Biomaterials Research to Reduce the Caries Pandemic. BMC Oral Health. 2006.
2. Boggess KA, Edelstein BL. Oral health in women during preconception and pregnancy: implications for birth outcomes and offspring’s oral health. Mat Child Health J; 2006 .
3. Edelstein BL. Dental care considerations for young children. Spec Care Dent 2002.
Current Projects
1. Evaluating the impact of federal legislative changes to Medicaid on low-income children's access to dental care.
2. Assessing preschoolers' risk for early childhood caries.
3. Integrating oral health into Head Start.