STUDY PROTOCOL Motivational interviewing TRIALS

The extensive health disparities experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) include oral diseases, such as dental caries (cavities) and periodontal (gum) disease. The United States prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) is highest in American Indian (AI) children [1]. ECC is defined as the presence of one or more decayed, missing, or filled tooth surfaces in any primary tooth in a preschool-age child between birth and six years of age [2]. A recent study of oral disease on the Pine Ridge Reservation revealed that 84 % of children (n = 157) had untreated decay [3]. Early childhood caries in young children often signal the beginning of a downward spiral of increasingly poor oral health and oral health-related quality of life. A cariogenic diet and poor oral health behaviors in the first two years of life are associate