The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 51.2 million people have some degree of disability and of those people 32.5 million had a severe disability. At the same time they also found that 70% of people over the age of 80, reported some degree of disability.
We specialize in providing quality dental care to the elderly and disabled individual. So we understand that as a primary caregiver you are passionate and dedicated to providing your patient or family member with the highest quality of care. There are a few things to keep in mind, to insure your patient will have a stress free experience.
When scheduling the appointment, let us know about any of your patient’s special considerations, mobility issues, medications they are taking or pertinent medical conditions. This is also a good time to to let us know about any teeth or areas of concern. This will help us be prepared with any special tools or techniques as well as making sure we have the proper personnel available for a potential lift.
Depending on your patient’s disability and mobility issues we might recommend different strategies or use different tools. Let us know if your patient has any posture issues, so we can compensate for it while maintaining comfort. In some cases this might be as simple as placing a few rolled towels under certain parts of their body.
If your patient has issues with dental anxiety, we might recommend mild to moderate sedation to help them feel more comfortable. If the procedure will take a long time we might also use a mouth prop or retractor to help them hold their mouth open.
Communication is key for providing your patient with the highest quality dental care. Please feel free to call us at 208-888-3311 with any questions you might have or to schedule an appointment.