Madera County

Overview of Findings

The Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH) program run by the Madera County Public Health Department educates nearly 1,000 families on oral health primary prevention. The program connects Medi-Cal families- who may be unaware of dental coverage- to oral health resources and services in the community.

According to a key informant, there are dental providers who accept Medi-Cal patients in the county, but dentists have discretion to accept new patients. The informant explained that, “It’s an impacted [dental] system and appointments are not available until months ahead of time. Finding dentists who will accept very young children is a challenge in Madera County. Dentists are not as willing to see children younger than 3 years, despite public recommendations that children see a dentist by age 1.

The key informant interviewed believes there is a lack of knowledge on behalf of parents, health care providers, the community, and others on the importance of children’s oral health. The informant explained that evidence-based efforts are not being utilized, for example, the wide use of sealants. The informant explained that sealants are an effective way of preventing tooth decay and is also cost effective compared to filling cavities.

Fresno County

Data

The following links lead to visual representations of the data collected in the surveys for this county. Maps in the 'slideshow' have accompanying text that helps explain what is visually taking place as well as comparing the results of this county's maps to the results for the rest of the region. The PDF maps have no explanation text and are only the visual image.

View Map Slideshow

Download Map PDFs:

All results (multi-page PDF)

Send Feedback