Purpose: Maintaining oral health is important for pregnant minority adolescents and their offspring's present and future well-being. The purpose of this article is to identify the scope of oral health problems and describe three models to guide pediatric nursing research and interventions related to oral health in pregnant minority adolescents.
Conclusions: Identifying and understanding the risks of poor oral health in pregnant minority adolescents will assist those who plan and provide care for this vulnerable population.
Practice implications: Utilizing more than one model or a combination of models may be necessary for improving oral health outcomes in this population.