Interested in working with special needs and mental illness population

[Arch-Enemy]

I'm currently in dental school and have been really interested in working with those who may have any mental, developmental, or even physical disability. For some time, I have been reading how this particular subset has been underserved. Is there further training that we as dentists can go through in order to be adept at treating such a population? Perhaps this could be a specialty or residency. I would love to hear experiences and insight from others.

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[Big Time Hoosier]

I'm currently in dental school and have been really interested in working with those who may have any mental, developmental, or even physical disability. For some time, I have been reading how this particular subset has been underserved. Is there further training that we as dentists can go through in order to be adept at treating such a population? Perhaps this could be a specialty or residency. I would love to hear experiences and insight from others.

There are GPR residencies out there geared towards this. How to find out which ones are focused on that, I don't know. However, I met someone who did the 2-year GPR at UW and spent the second year working with adults with special health care needs.

DECOD Program

DECOD provides dental care that is not otherwise available in the community for patients with developmental and acquired disabilities.

dental.washington.edu

Big Hoss

 

[Saddleshoes]

A graduate from a dental anesthesiology program is a god send for working with this community!

 

[charlestweed]

There are at least 2 GPR programs in Southern Califonnia (UCLA and Rancho Los Amigos Med Center) that treat patients with mental and physical disabilities. I did my GPR at one of these programs and it was a good learning experience for me. For patients with mild disability, we performed dental procedures under IV sedation. I did at least 10 IV sedation cases when I was there. One of my co-residents did 20+ IV cases….she later took the IV licensing exam and passed. For patients with severe mental disability, we had to put them under general anesthesia and treated them in the OR. This required a lot of preparations and it was very stressful. I had to arrange the appointment for the patient to see the team’s physician, who helped perform the H&P exam. I had to reserve the OR room and communicated with either the dental or medical anesthesiologist. I had to drag the mobile dental equipment and supplies to the OR. In the OR, we performed full mouth dentistry in one session……mostly extractions and amalgam fillings…. just to help get the patient out of pain and eliminate dental infections….no endo, no crown. I became very good and fast at suturing. The state’s medicaid program paid for all these.

 

[PerioDont]

You should definitely look into a GPR.

know that working with this population can be very rewarding but alsoy very taxing and there are many different challenges to work around.

 

[Lemillion]

I would say either a GPR or pedo if you also like working with kids. There's a strong need with dental care with this patient population. Usually on the pedo side, we are able to take care of them when younger but it's hard when they get to be 18+ and have adult dental needs. There's only one in our area that offers this and he is busy with referrals for the older patients.