Special needs dentists open more CA clinics with new grants

From ChristenCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Martha Rodriguez spent years searching for a dentist. A few turned her over because she had Down Syndrome and felt they couldn’t accommodate her.

Her difficult position “shattered my heart,” says Dr. Maxmilian Chambers, an Imperial County dentist, who agreed to treat her.

Today, she is one of his favorite patients at the Innercare Community Health Clinic in El Centro and she inspires a new investment in care.

Thanks partly to a new state grant, Chambers opens a dental surgical center for patients with special needs in Imperial County and the surrounding areas. $ 5 million from the country will cover the cost of construction for eight chairs and two surgical theaters.

The grant is part of a bigger effort for Improvement of dental care for people with disabilities in development and other special needsS A total of $ 47.2 million are allocated to 13 dentists and clinicsS

“I want to make a change,” Chambers said. “I do not want them to have to wait two to three years to see the dentist, at that time everything had changed and worsened.”

People with special needs such as an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or even Alzheimer’s are often hypersensitive to lights, sounds and touch – turning a dentist into a difficult place to visit.

Often they should be calmed during routine exams or desensitized over time. Others with physical disabilities may need specialized equipment, such as wheelchair lifts that most dental offices do not have.

Private dental offices also make it difficult to take Medi-CAL insurance from patients with disabilities, as it does not pay very well for frequently complex procedures, limiting the patient’s access even more.

This makes the population one of the most rated groups in the state, according to the California Dental Association, which is advocating for the grant program. Many are tingling on the waiting lists or driving hours to the closer clinic that will take them, usually only dental schools.

Previous estimates suggest that only 14 California dental schools and surgical centers are equipped to deal with patients with special needs, according to the California Dental Association.

“We have a sharp need for more facilities that are equipped to serve persons of all ages who need accommodation that traditional dental offices cannot provide,” says President of the Max Martinez Dental Association in a statement. “The Dental Clinic Program for Specialized Dental Clinic will transform dental care for patients with special needs in California.”

Another of Chambers’ patients, Nicole Sing, at the age of 30, has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. Sing’s parents could not find a dentist in Imperial County for their daughter before meeting Chambers and used to drive her across the border to Mexical care. She visited the clinic earlier this month, the same day that Rodriguez last met with Chambers.

Chambers said that when his new clinic, the hassle -free surgical centers, he would be able to serve about 2100 people a year and would probably attract patients from Arizona and Mexical.

“We are trying to offer something that is traditionally observed only in educational institutions or hospitals,” Chambers said. “Moreover, they never had that close to home.”

It is difficult to determine exactly how many people in California need special dental accommodation sites.

Approximately One in seven children has special health The needs for chronic physical, development or behavioral conditions, according to the California Department of Public Health, although not all of them require specialized dentistry.

Nearly 500,000 disabled persons receive services from Ministry of Development ServicesS And the senior population in California includes about 720,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to Alzheimer’s AssociationS

In general, it is difficult for adults with special needs to find care, since dentists who treat adults are not trained to meet their needs, but pediatric dentists receive training.

“Our waiting time is terrible and it’s not just UCLA, but all the main centers see this population,” says Eric Sung, chairman of special care for patients at the UCLA Dental School. “Our waiting time is over a year.”

The Special Care Clinic for UCLA patients serves about 1500 patients a year. About one -third of them are driving between one and two hours to reach the clinic, while another 30% driving for more than two hours, Sung said.

The clinic also received a $ 4.2 million state grant to expand its capacity. Sung said the money would allow the clinic to add eight extra chairs, quiet rooms with reduced sensory stimuli and wheelchair lifts. Sung projects that the clinic will be able to see 4000 patients with special needs annually with the extension, more than doubling the current amount.

Adding new dental clinics such as Chambers also means that academic dental centers will not be buried, Sung said.

“I’m in ecstasy. I’m almost silent because it was such a long trip to get to this point,” Sung said. “I hope this is just the beginning to help access this population.”

Photographer Zoya Mayers contributed to this story.

Supported by the California Foundation for Health (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the necessary care when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.