Access to Dental Care Is Not Enough

A comprehensive study using electronic dental records to profile the oral health status of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) has concluded that access to specialized dental care alone is not sufficient to meet the community's substantial oral health needs. The findings, published as the cover article in the August issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association, provide a foundation for further investigation into the significant oral health needs of adults with I/DD and the development of preventive oral health strategies.

Autism and Health Care

Family can help calm a child with Autism. So often we may find ourselves focused so much on one particular disorder or illness, and forget that people can still get common colds and cavities. And that's the same for my son. I often find myself so caught up on trying to teach him behaviors, focus on speaking and spelling (he's becoming a wizz on the iPod Touch virtual keyboard), that I forget that he has other needs too. And, unfortunately for him, he inherited my baby teeth and now has at least one massive cavity.
Because my son has Autism and is non-verbal, he can't tell us that his jaw hurts when he tries to eat. So we need to rely on body language to help guide us. It's not easy, because any behavior caused by continuous pain could also be caused by his need for constant deep pressure. It's difficult to tell what the problem is, and how to best address it. It wasn't until I started looking into his mouth that I noticed a large cavity forming.

Dentists Urge Insurers to Pay for Anesthesia for Patients with Special Needs

Autism can cause a mouthful of pain, and worse. That’s why Pennsylvania dentists want a state mandate to require health insurers to pay for general anesthesia for patients with mental disabilities that prevent them from tolerating dental work while awake.
The mandate is contained in a bill sponsored by state Rep. Stan Saylor, R-York.