Oral health care for patients with developmental disabilities: A survey of Michigan general dentists.

AIMS

The aim of this study to examine the level of access to dental care in Michigan for individuals with DD and explore the dentists' practices, attitudes, and perceived barriers to providing care to this vulnerable population.

METHODS AND RESULTS

A survey was mailed to a random sample of 1250 general dental practitioners with an active license in the State of Michigan. The survey included questions related to dentists' demographic information, opinion about willingness, barriers, and training needs associated with delivering care to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Descriptive statistics were computed and chi-squared tests and logistic regression models analyzed the association between predictor and key outcome variables. Results show that most dentists treated individuals with developmental disabilities (80.3%). Respondents who indicated that they currently do not treat these patients identified behavior management of patient (67.9%), inadequate training and experiences (52.4%) and severity of patient's condition (41.7%) as the most common reasons for not providing care to individuals with developmental disabilities.

CONCLUSION

A majority of Michigan general dentists treat patients with developmental disabilities. Addressing barriers like training and improved reimbursements might help in increasing the number of dentists willing to treat patients with developmental disabilities.