OPENPediatrics Brushing Up on High-Quality Oral Health Care for Children with Medical Complexity
Aug 8, 2025
31:39
In this Complex Care Journal Club podcast episode, Dr. Robbie Dembo and Ms. Kate Honsberger discuss a mixed methods study of oral health experiences and disparities among children with special health care needs. They describe oral health problems faced by children with medical complexity, barriers to high-quality dental care reported by family caregivers, and strategies for disseminating findings from their study.
SPEAKERS
Robbie Dembo, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Principal Investigator
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
University of Chicago
Kate Honsberger, BA
Director, Health Care Programs
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
University of Chicago
HOST
Kristina Malik, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Medical Director, KidStreet
Pediatrician, Special Care Clinic,
Children's Hospital Colorado
DATE
Initial publication date: August 11, 2025.
JOURNAL CLUB ARTICLE
NORC at the University of Chicago. Oral Health Among Children with Special Health Care Needs. Accessed August 4, 2025. https://www.norc.org/research/projects/oral-health-children-special-health-care-needs.html
OTHER ARTICLES REFERENCED
Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. Shared care planning for children with special health care needs. Accessed August 4, 2025. https://www.cahmi.org/our-work-in-action/engagement-in-action/cshcn
Cohen E, Kuo DZ, Agrawal R, Berry JG, Bhagat SK, Simon TD, Srivastava R. Children with medical complexity: an emerging population for clinical and research initiatives. Pediatrics. 2011 Mar;127(3):529-38. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-0910. Epub 2011 Feb 21. PMID: 21339266; PMCID: PMC3387912.
Yu JA, McKernan G, Hagerman T, Schenker Y, Houtrow A. Identifying children with medical complexity from the National Survey of Children’s Health combined 2016–17 data set. Hospital Pediatrics. 2021;11(2):192- 197. doi:10.1542/hpeds.2020-0180
TRANSCRIPT
https://cdn.bfldr.com/D6LGWP8S/as/9767nfr2rj79c2hft2cc3g8/Dembo_and_Hornsberget_final_8-7-25
Clinicians across healthcare professions, advocates, researchers, and patients/families are all encouraged to engage and provide feedback! You can recommend an article for discussion using this form: https://forms.gle/Bdxb86Sw5qq1uFhW6.
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CITATION
Dembo R, Honsberger K, Malik K. Brushing Up on High-Quality Oral Health Care for Children with Medical Complexity. 08/2025. OPENPediatrics. Online Podcast. https://soundcloud.com/openpediatrics/brushing-up-on-high-quality.