Highchair Dental Care is an age-appropriate oral health
care model — developed by Winifred J. Booker, D.D.S., F.A.A.P.D. — that identifies the opportunity to promote healthy
behaviors at the point of care.
The purpose of the course is to share this revolutionary
practice model with oral health professionals to:
• Help encourage more of
these dental care providers to endear the 1 year-old patient
• Empower these
dentists and dental hygienists with the most applicable and useful resources to
do so
Dr. Booker shows you how this unique practice of dentistry is designed to excite
more parents to decisively identify a dental home for their new baby before or
by age 1. Highchair Dental Care provides an optimistic and insightful approach
to infant oral health care. It teaches dental professionals an alternative way
to treat children beginning as early as 8 months, while at the same time
educating parents and caregivers. At this age babies can sit well for several
minutes without support. The highchair provides the safety and security needed
to conduct the proper infant oral exam. It also allows the infant this first
examination in an environment familiar to them, which a traditional dental chair
cannot.
Strategies that engage a child’s natural inclination to
open their mouth, to laugh or to eat is a part of the course instruction. By
placing the baby in a highchair, they are comfortable and usually most willing
to open-wide for their first oral examination and dental cleaning. It is a
child-friendly approach to patient care that works well with most infants.
The Highchair Dental Care Practice Model offers an
alternative standard to address infant oral health. This Practice Model draws
attention to the importance of innovation and early interventions to prevent
early childhood caries and other potential unfavorable
sequelae.
