Moor Park Specialist Dental Centre
Special Care Dentistry
This speciality is concerned with the improvement of the oral health of adults, and adolescents transitioning into adulthood, who may have a disability or impairment.
What should the patient expect at their first visit?
The first appointment will involve a full assessment, which may include taking x-rays. We will discuss the result and decide what treatment will be required. A second appointment may be required for treatment planning.
Who may benefit from seeing a Specialist in Special Care Dentistry?
Individuals who may have a disability or impairment that might be:
- Physical
- Sensory
- Intellectual
- Emotional
- Social
- Mental
Often an individual may have a combination of these factors and, hence, their oral care provision requires holistic care in support of the complexity of their additional needs.
Key factors that will steer you to consider a patient for a referral:
- Communication – A patient may be non-verbal or has significant communication difficulties.
- Cooperation – Patients can present with a disability that affects their psychological or mental health state. These patients may require anxiety management and, in certain circumstances, the use of conscious sedation techniques.
- Medical – Patients who have a progressive degenerative condition oran unstable medical condition.
- Mobility – Patients may require special equipment to transfer to a dental chair.
- Oral Risk – Some patients may require multi-disciplinary management of their oral care and have high risk factors for oral disease.
- Legal and ethical – Best interest decision-making over treatment plans or a second opinion for patients that have doubtful or fluctuating capacity to consent.
