Dental Hospital, University of Liverpool, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5PS, UK.
StR in Special Care Dentistry, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, East Surrey Hospital, Canada Avenue, Redhill, UK.
Br Dent J. 2021 Sep;231(6):331-333. doi: 10.1038/s41415-021-3465-2. Epub 2021 Sep 24.
Special care dentistry (SCD), one of 13 dental specialties, is the most recent addition to the GDC Speciality List, in 2008. Yet, SCD is often an area which dentists and dental care professionals only encounter via referral or directly within a secondary care or community dental setting. At undergraduate level, though a listed aspect of the GDC's curriculum, experiences within special care departments are often limited. Additionally, with other specialties such as restorative dentistry taking precedence, there is a risk of SCD being viewed as an adjunct to the main curriculum. Despite this, lessons learned from SCD are key to understanding the holistic patient-centred experience. It is an opportunity to combine advanced clinical knowledge with patient management, which all dental professionals should possess in order to fulfil our duty of care for all. The aim of this article is to explore the lack of exposure to SCD in undergraduates, and highlight the reasons behind the management of patients with additional needs being an essential part of the undergraduate curriculum and beyond. The article also explores the importance of SCD in treating patients in an increasingly diverse society, particularly for those with complications related to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
特殊护理牙科（SCD）是 13 个牙科专业之一，于 2008 年加入 GDC 专业名单。然而，SCD 通常是牙医和牙科保健专业人员仅通过转介或在二级保健或社区牙科环境中直接接触的领域。在本科阶段，尽管在 GDC 课程中列出了这一方面，但在特殊护理部门的经验往往有限。此外，由于修复牙科等其他专业优先考虑，SCD 有被视为主要课程的辅助课程的风险。尽管如此，从 SCD 中吸取的经验教训对于理解整体以患者为中心的体验至关重要。这是一个将先进的临床知识与患者管理相结合的机会，所有牙科专业人员都应该具备这些知识，以履行我们对所有人的护理责任。本文旨在探讨本科生对 SCD 的接触不足，并强调管理有特殊需求的患者作为本科课程及以后不可或缺的一部分的原因。本文还探讨了 SCD 在治疗日益多样化社会中的患者的重要性，特别是对于那些与最近的 COVID-19 大流行相关的并发症的患者。
