What Makes Special Needs Dentistry Different?
The need for dental care isn’t unique to any group of people. Children of all ages and abilities benefit from seeing a dentist on a regular basis and getting the care they can provide. Of course, some children need some extra help when it comes to dental care, especially those who fall under the umbrella of special needs. The good news is that special needs dentistry can help with that.
Extra Training
Dentists typically spend eight years in school to learn and get the training they need to become a dentist. To become a pediatric dentist or a special needs dentist, even more education and training is required, at least two years. This allows dentists to develop a greater understanding of the unique challenges that face children with special needs.
Extra Care
Special needs dentists understand that children with special needs often benefit from extra care being taken to ensure their comfort and safety. That can mean taking extra time and exercising an additional degree of patience beyond what would typically be necessary for other patients. Behavior management techniques and anesthesia techniques can help children feel more at ease during their appointment. By discussing options with parents, special needs dentists become the best allies in the effort to ensure good oral health.
Extra Awareness
Part of the purpose of those extra years of training to become a special needs dentist is to learn about the specific challenges they’ll face and some of the options for overcoming them. For example, children with down syndrome may have a strong gag reflex and a protruded tongue, which can make dental treatment more of a challenge. There are also varying degrees of learning disabilities that can prompt the need for behavioral management techniques. The good news is that when such patients are seen by experts who take the time to understand their needs, getting the oral care and treatment needed is very doable.
A child with special needs benefits from regular dentist visits at least as much as other children, and in some cases arguably more. Depending on the needs of a child, finding a regular dentist who is equipped to help them the way they need to be helped can be tough. If your child has special needs, one of the best things you can do to get them the dental care they need is definitely to find a special needs dentist.
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