Management and Transition from Pediatric to Adult Dental Care for Patients with Special Needs

What you'll learn

Course overview

Dental care and dental treatment are paramount to health. However, the provision of routine dental care can become quite complicated for patients with medical comorbidities and special health care needs, with increasing consideration the more complex the patients medical history. The transition from pediatric to adult based care is a significant point of inflection in a patients life and routine management of care. This inflection point can often to contribute to lapses in care or loss to follow up. The transition of care for patients with more complex needs, such as chronic health conditions like sickle cell disease, cerebral palsy, syndromic conditions, and autism necessitates increased communication of dentists with physicians, as well as increased medical involvement by the dentist. The aging population, as well as growing population of patients with special needs (intellectual and developmental disabilities) has contributed to the increased medical management of patients for dental care, and collaborative transitional care. Continuous, appropriate and routine oral and dental care contributes to improved health outcomes, but this care must be rendered in a manner that is comfortable, accessible, and consistent for the patient. We will discuss the implications of transition of care on patients and their families or support networks, considerations for transition of care for patients with special needs, and methods and processes of transitions of care. We will discuss the dentists role in the transitional process, policy and resource changes that occur during this transition, as well as its impact on dental and overall health.