Special Needs Dentistry

For patients who use a wheelchair or require larger or reinforced equipment, we have a specialised dental bench and wheelchair recliner eliminating the need to tranfer out of the wheelchair for dental treatment.

Special Care Dentistry (SCD) is not limited to people with physical disabilities. A greater majority of our special needs clients are those with severe dental phobia – often recalling their traumatic dental experience, as a child soon as they get into the dental surgery. We also have clients with intellectual disability (kids and adolescents with autism or Down Syndrome), or have been diagnosed and undergoing allied health management for their mental health illness, and those on medication for depression and post-traumatic stress. Other than children, our special needs clients also include adults and aged care residents.

Special Needs Dentistry is a dental specialty and there are only a handful of specialists in the field working at both government hospitals and private practices. We are in the process making teledentistry available for the dental team and clients to liaise and consult with participating Specialists in Special Needs Dentistry, and Specialist Paediatric Dentists in Brisbane and Victoria. A specialist opinion enables parents, patients themselves, and parties giving consent on behalf of patients they care for, to have a more a informed decision on the direction of continuing dental management of their child and or family member's with special health care needs.

For more information on special needs dentistry, the International Association for Disability and Oral Health (iADH) has published has this co-published reference: https://oralhealth.knowledgehub.wiley.com/special-healthcare-needs/