CHARLOTTE: Knowing how important it is for everyone to have access to good oral health care, Dentsply Sirona is hosting the digital event “Special Care Dentistry: Reducing Inequalities – Bridging the Gap” on November 15, 2022.
This educational event will be streamed live from Dentsply Sirona’s site in Bensheim and highlights the importance of special care dentistry, which is often overlooked within dental practices and in university training.
Global dental professionals from four different backgrounds practice, education, public health, and advocacy will outline current challenges, present the latest advancements, and provide solutions to service this population.
As part of its commitment to helping special needs individuals access high-quality dental care, Dentsply Sirona is inviting dental professionals and scholars to attend a digital session on special care dentistry, taking place online on November 15, from 14:00-16:00 CET.
The event will underscore the importance of providing optimum service to special needs individuals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 15% of the world’s population is living with a disability – just over 1 billion people. 1 The session will feature the following leading experts in the field:
• Dr. Mark Wolff, PhD, Morton Amsterdam Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Dental School
• Darryl Barrett, LLM, Technical Lead for Disability at the World Health Organization
• Dr. Alison Dougall, Immediate Past President of the International Association for Disability and Oral Health and Professor of Special Care Dentistry at Trinity College Dublin
• Dr. Jacobo Limeres Posse, DDS, PhD, Professor at Santiago de Compostela University and former President of the Spanish Society of Special Care Dentistry
• Mélanie Gréaux, MSc, consultant for the Disability Programme of the WHO Sensory, Disability and Rehabilitation Unit With backgrounds spanning practice, education, public health, and advocacy.
The panel will provide a well-rounded view of how to deliver reliably good care for people with disabilities and what special care dentistry education should look like at universities. They will consider how recent advances can reduce oral health inequalities for people living with disabilities and provide new insights into best-practice care for this.
Attendees will also have the chance to ask their own questions on this important topic. “Persons with disabilities have the right to smile, eat, enjoy, speak, and function without pain and their families have the right to be supported in having practitioners that understand and care for them,” said Dr. Wolff.
“We have the capability to change the quality of life for so many people and I think stepping up to do it is just part of who we are as a profession.” Providing high-quality dental care to patients with special needs Populations requiring special care dentistry are not only underserved but often also have increased risk factors for poor oral health.
A recent study from Australia found that 41 percent of children with special needs get insufficient or no dental treatment at all.
When it comes to special care dentistry, there are a variety of different needs and barriers to consider both physical and cognitive. Some patients could benefit from intelligent architecture, room planning, and sensory features that minimize contact and stimuli, while others with restricted mobility need assistance getting into the clinic and chair comfortably or in wheelchair-compatible spaces.
Special care dentistry relies on both clinics having access to appropriate equipment and students being trained how to treat people with disabilities. Yet, out of the more than 1,300 dental schools worldwide, there are only a few in Europe and in the US that provide curriculum sessions to educate students on catering to patients with special needs.
The Care Center for Persons with Disabilities at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, supported by Dentsply Sirona, is a leading example. The center is fully equipped to serve patients with disabilities, with accessible treatment spaces, wheelchair lifts, a quiet room, X-ray units in every operatory, and more.
All dental students rotate through the center, building competence and confidence in managing the needs of individuals with disabilities from the very beginning of dental training. “As dental professionals, we know how important it is for everyone to have access to good oral health care,” said Jörg Vogel, Vice President Sales International Special Clinic Solutions for Dentsply Sirona. “Yet, for people with disabilities, visiting a dentist can sometimes seem virtually impossible. Everyone deserves the best dental care, regardless of any condition or special needs. It’s a necessity, not a nice to have. We all need to play our role in making the industry more inclusive for this population.”
