# PROMIS oral health toolkit-supported school-based oral health program

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $750,335

## Abstract

Abstract
Dental disease disproportionately affects low-income, underserved and minority children. Schools have been
an effective venue for childhood health surveillance and delivery of oral health services. However, traditional
surveillance methods are costly and require use of oral health professionals, which limits their ability to screen
large populations of children on a periodic basis. Similar constraints also limit the extent to which dentist-based
school oral health programs can be used for student populations. Thus, there is an urgent need for a more
efficient, feasible and accurate oral health screening approach that can distinguish abnormal from normal oral
health conditions and classify children into different levels of oral health treatment need so that they can be
referred for timely and appropriate dental treatment. Building on our Oral Health PROMIS (Patient Reported
Outcomes Measurement Information Systems) project, which has developed the nation’s first oral health
item bank systems and initial effective oral health screening toolkits for children, we aim to establish and test a
School-Based Oral Health Program (SBOHP) that includes efficient oral health screening, education, case
management and referral. This novel SBOHP will (i) apply innovative Oral Health PROMIS toolkits (short
form and computer adaptive testing) to efficiently and accurately identify dental problems and determine the
urgency of dental treatment need; (ii) deliver effective and pertinent oral health education tailored to students’
dental treatment need urgency and parents’ health literacy levels to enhance their understanding of the
importance of oral health and improve their oral health behaviors; and (iii) use school healthy start coordinators
and school nurses to provide case management, referrals and follow-up with available dental hubs and
treatment sources. This SBOHP will be developed and tested among students in the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD), who participate in the SBOHP at baseline and 12-month follow-up, to evaluate feasibility,
participation rate, efficiency, changes in oral health status, oral hygiene and diet behaviors, having or use of a
dental home, and oral health status. The study will be carried out in two phases. Phase I—Preparation Phase
will incorporate risk assessment into our existing case-finding-based treatment referral decision making;
calibrate Oral Health PROMIS toolkits to fit conditions manifested in the LAUSD student population; validate
the accuracy of OH PROMIS toolkits in identifying untreated caries and assigning students to treatment referral
categories against dental examination; and develop the procedures, protocols, and documents for testing and
evaluating the innovative SBOHP. Phase II—Testing and Evaluation Phase will evaluate feasibility,
acceptability and efficiency of the Oral Health PROMIS assessment toolkits-supported SBOHP, and the impact
of the SBOHP on children’s oral health status and care ov...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10172887
- **Project number:** 5U01DE029491-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** HONGHU LIU
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $750,335
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10172887

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10172887, PROMIS oral health toolkit-supported school-based oral health program (5U01DE029491-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10172887. Licensed CC0.

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