The University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine Center for Persons with Disabilities Presentation Series

Did you know that the U.S. alone has more than 60 million people with one or more disabilities. Imagine the numbers on a global scale and it is clear there is a need to help improve understanding about how to address the oral health needs of persons with disabilities as well as conceive of new approaches to increase access to care. Penn Dental Medicine’s Center for Persons with Disabilities Presentation Series is aimed a building awareness of the barriers to equitable oral health for this community, as well as offering practical information about how to provide personalized care within the routine dental practice. Programs are an hour in length and cover a variety of topics for any practitioner interested in enhancing their skills.

Preventive Health Considerations for Individuals with Special Needs

Attainment of optimal oral health and wellness is a challenging and dynamic process that occurs along the aging continuum for individuals with all types of disabilities and related special care needs. This lecture will review important challenges and considerations related to health prevention for individuals with special needs. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring safety, minimizing disease risks, maintaining function, and optimizing general and oral health-related quality of life.

Defining Disabilites: Disabilites across a Lifetime

This presentation is designed to provide clinicians with an understanding of what is “disability” and how some disabilities affect oral health. It will present the diagnostic and oral health implications of a series of disabilities-developmental and acquired, intellectual and physical, that are encountered routinely in dental practice and help explain how best to navigate the oral health issues encountered.

Guided Oral Hygiene and Assisted Oral Hygiene: Methods to Play and Active Role in Home Hygiene

No matter what we do in the office, our success is dependent on what our patients do outside of our office. Regular oral hygiene is key to oral health, yet sometimes it is a struggle. We want to emphasize a team approach to homecare, with the dental professional, the caregiver, and the patient all playing important roles. This webinar will discuss various workflow systems and a documentation system we have implemented. We may even touch on some we plan to explore in the future. We will share tools and technology that can make home hygiene less of a struggle with the ultimate goal of improving regular home hygiene for all patients, especially those who have disabilities. We then plan to conclude with a short guided oral hygiene demo and time for Q&A.

Dental Management of Common Disabilities

This lecture will give a brief description and categorization of various medical and developmental diagnoses. The object of the lecture is to provide learners a way to assimilate and understand the similarities that exist among numerous diagnoses and the common oral findings associated with these disorders. Creating an interdisciplinary approach to developing an oral care plan will then be discussed.

Medical Immobilization and Protective Stabilization: Techniques for Providing Safe and Effective Care in Professional and Home settings

This presentation will provide management techniques to overcome resistant and aggressive behaviors and how to incorporate these techniques into the oral care plan. It will discuss medical immobilization and stabilization techniques for use during in office care and home care plans, including consent concerns. Examples will be shown of how to safely provide these techniques during oral care. The presentation will also provide insight into how to share these techniques with direct care givers and individuals.

Is the Dental Professional Prepared to Serve People with Disabilities

Thirty years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) – the successes, failures, and gaps in coverage and the opportunities to continue to improve.

Preventive Nutritional Interventions for Individuals with Special Needs

Maintaining good nutritional health can be challenging for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDDs. As part of the health care team, registered dietitian nutritionists, or RDNs, identify strategies for mealtime support and create menus of acceptable food options to meet special nutrition needs. Individuals with IDDs may also struggle with other health conditions such as diabetes and obesity. RDNs are skilled in educating patients, family members and caregivers on nutrition needs for these conditions, too. There may be limitations during mealtime for both children and adults including, vision problems, difficulty holding utensils, swallowing problems, digestion problems, food allergies and medications which can also impair nutritional status. Oral health problems, such as dry mouth, cavities, gum infections and oral hygiene can also contribute to feeding difficulties. RDNs can be tremendous patient advocates, often connecting patients or their family members and caregivers with community resources to help meet food and nutrition needs.

Learning the Ability in Disability: A Discussion about Cerebral Palsy

This lecture will encompass a presentation from a second year dental student about her summer spent interning at the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy as part of the Bridging the Gaps program for Penn Medicine. She will explain how a summer spent serving this population has impacted her professional and emotional development.