The Fenwick Foundation – Virtual Oral Hygiene Education Program

There was a full range of collaboration between our dental professional who works with us to scope and outline and then present the virtual dental webinar series; and our partner organizations who sign up folks to attend the virtual webinars (and make sure the virtual sessions are configured and ready to go when the webinars begin). In month 1 and 2 of the grant period, we scheduled several one-on-one virtual dental sessions between the dentist and patients; We also had a presentation of our initial Oral Health Webinars (#1 “The Basics”; #2 “Oral Care Issues and Medication Interactions”). In month 3 we sent DVDs of the first two webinars to partner organizations that did not have access to on-line conferencing capabilities. In month 4 we had “encore” presentations of our webinars 1&2; in month 8 we developed and presented Webinar #3 “Restorations”; in months 9-13 we held additional “encore” presentations of each of the Oral Health Webinars. The project had a great impact on those served. Anecdotal data (personal calls and follow-up evaluations) were universal in their praise of the information presented in the webinars and the value of the educational information to the participants. Most noted how they were now better prepared to understand the need for certain dental procedures, and were better prepared for discussions with their dentist regarding dental treatments and procedures and options for treatment. The oral health topics and issues addressed in our webinar series addressed topics in a way that was understandable to the layman. The participants had a better understanding as to why certain treatments and procedures were needed, how often some procedures were needed, what options for treatment existed, and active measures they could take to achieve and maintain a better oral health condition.