Other Titles
Sonrisas por Millas/ Smiles for Miles: An Oral Health Equity Program for Refugee Children in Los Angeles [Title Slide]
Other Titles
Special Session/Plenary Session
Abstract
Hispanic/Latine children experience greater oral disease burden than other groups of US children. Attendees at the session will learn about the Sonrisas por Millas/Smiles for Miles program, within which UCLA School of Nursing faculty and nurse practitioner students will partner with the Refugee Children's Center (RCC) to provide and evaluate a novel community-based intervention to promote oral health for refugee children and their families.
Notes
References: American Academy of Pediatrics. (2023). Oral health practice tools. Oral health risk assessment. Self-management goal sheet for parents and caregivers. https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/oral-health/oral-health-practice-tools/
Crespo, E. (2019). The importance of oral health in immigrant and refugee children. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 6(9), 102. https://doi.org/10.3390/children6090102
Phung, B. (2023). Caring for resettled refugee children in the United States: Guidelines, challenges and public health perspectives. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1046319. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1046319
Pike, N. A., Kinsler, J. J., Peterson, J. K., Verzemnieks, I., Lauridsen, L., Love-Bibbero, L., & Ramos-Gomez, F. (2022). Improved oral health knowledge in a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner program. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 34(5), 755-762. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000696
Pike., N. A., Love-Bibbero, L., Kinsler, J. J., Verzemnieks, I., & Ramos-Gomez, F. (2023). Five-year follow-up of an interdisciplinary oral health education program: Clinical practice behaviors in working pediatric nurse practitioners. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 35(9), 552-558.https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000809
Ramos-Gomez, F., & Kinsler, J. J. (2022). Addressing social determinants of oral health, structural racism and discrimination and intersectionality among immigrant and non-English speaking Hispanics in the United States. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 82(Suppl 1), 133–139. https://doi.org/10.1111/jphd.12524
Ramos-Gomez, F., Kinsler, J. J, Askaryar, H., Verzemnieks, I., & Garell, C. (2021). Evaluation of an interprofessional education program in pediatric dentistry, medicine and nursing. Journal of Dental Education. https://doi.org/0.1002/jdd.12578
Villalta, J., Askaryar, H., Verzemnieks, I., Kinsler, J., Kropenske, V., & Ramos-Gomez, F. (2019). Developing an effective community oral health workers - “promotoras” model for Early Head Start. Frontiers in Public Health, 7, 175. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2019.00175
Sigma Membership
Gamma Tau at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Expert Opinion (nationally/internationally recognized)
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health, Promoting Clinical Outcomes, Oral Disease, Childhood Oral Disease, Pediatric Oral Disease, Refugees, Hispanic
Recommended Citation
Westphaln, Kristi K. and Cunningham, Carol Lynn, "Sonrisas por Millas/Smiles for Miles" (2025). Biennial Convention (CONV). 231.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/convention/2025/presentations_2025/231
Conference Name
48th Biennial Convention
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Invited Presentation
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2025-12-10
Sonrisas por Millas/Smiles for Miles
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Hispanic/Latine children experience greater oral disease burden than other groups of US children. Attendees at the session will learn about the Sonrisas por Millas/Smiles for Miles program, within which UCLA School of Nursing faculty and nurse practitioner students will partner with the Refugee Children's Center (RCC) to provide and evaluate a novel community-based intervention to promote oral health for refugee children and their families.