Patients with special needs are best defined as those who require special consideration due to physical, mental, emotional or behavioral impairment. Whatever impairment they face, it is likely to limit their day to day activities in some way. Healthcare for a child with special needs, in specific, requires specialized training as to not aggravate the person on the receiving end of any treatment.
A child with special needs faces a higher risk of contracting gum disease and tooth decay. This is exactly why good dental care is a very important part of your child’s health. Finding the right dentist for your child is what is going to ensure that they get the best possible care! Here are a few factors to take into consideration while looking for a dentist…
Ask Questions
You should start looking for a dental home as soon as you realize you have a child with special needs. Visit different pediatric dentists and ask a lot of questions about how you should handle the situation. Differing opinions should hopefully make things clearer for you.
Policies
Kids need to sit still during dental procedures. Different dentists have different policies to prevent your child from moving around. Find out about the different policies or techniques that these dentists use and then choose the dental home that your child would be most comfortable with.
Specialized Training
Looking at the kind of training that dentists receive is important. All pediatric dentists receive about two years of training post-dental school so they are better suited to deal with children with special needs.
This training includes topics such as:
- How to do deal with anxiety related to dental visits
- The best products to use to prevent problems such as tooth decay and oral trauma
Choosing a pediatric dentist also gives you the option of bringing your child to the hospital for a holistic treatment using general anesthesia.
Choose Junior Smiles
Junior Smiles is a pediatric dental office that has your child’s best interests at heart. Our pediatric dentist, Dr. Drew Popper, is professionally trained to get cleaning and treatment completed in a kid and sensory-friendly environment.
Your child’s comfort and oral health is going to be the top priority at Junior Smiles. This is exactly why Dr. Popper makes sure to be thorough when examining your kids without upsetting them in any way. Both the doctor and the staff are incredibly patient when dealing with children. I speak from firsthand experience!
As an experienced professional, Dr. Popper spends extra time with each family to make sure that they are well-informed of the steps they need to take to prevent any oral issues. He will answer any and all questions that you may have and guide you through every step of your child’s journey!
Sponsored: This blog post was sponsored by Junior Smiles. All opinions expressed in this blog post are my own and not influenced in any way by the sponsor. Any statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with provider and please refer to this site’s Disclosure for more information. I have been compensated, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
