Rock Your Socks Event for World
Down Syndrome Day. Members from
the Pitt AADMD chapter, including
students and faculty, wore crazy
socks to bring awareness for
Patients with Down Syndrome.
Bringing
Awareness of
Patients with
Special Needs
to Dentists of
the Future
By Andrew Jockers, DMD candidate,
University of Pittsburgh School of
Dental Medicine, class of 2020
(Highlights from the University of
Pittsburgh’s Student Chapter of the
American Academy of Developmental
Medicine and Dentistry; faculty
advisor: Lynne M. Taiclet DMD)
As a dental student, you will frequently
hear that it has never been a better time
to be a dentist. And this appears to be
genuinely true. Dentistry is now fully
embracing the digital age. We are seeing
CEREC and CAD/CAM technology being
introduced in dental schools, and the
Cone-Beam Computed Tomography
(CBCT) being employed in the field to
maximum effect. Additionally, new fields
are continuing to develop with Dental
Anesthesia now being recognized as an
official specialty. This widespread
development and innovation is even
spilling over into a realm that was only
ever whispered about in the past: dentistry
for patients with special health care needs
(SHCN).
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In this modern age, those whispers have
turned into murmurs, and the murmurs
are starting to develop into full blown
conversations about special needs
dentistry. At dental schools across the
nation, there is a future generation of
dental practitioners who are now required
to receive regular exposure to patients
with SHCN. The ADA’s Commission on
Dental Accreditation (CODA) has
mandated that dental students be
competent in assessing the treatment
needs of patients with SHCN. Thus, as
more and more of these uniquely-trained
and conscientiously-minded providers
branch out into professional practice,
there is daylight on the horizon for this
oft-forgotten group of patients. However,
success is never easy, and rarely simple.
MA R CH/A P R I L 2020 | P EN N S YLVA N IA D EN TA L J O UR N A L
Looking back to the earliest days of
treating patients with SHCN, it is well
understood that without designated
specialists who were willing to provide
care for patients with differing needs and
modified treatment modalities, this role
traditionally fell to a pediatric dentist, as
these young patients were known to
require some form of specialist. 1 However,
the modern era has complicated this
solution. Modern medicine and its many
advances has benefited patients with
SHCN as well. Consequently, these
patients are living longer and requiring
care to complement this reality. As
patients with SHCN have begun to grow
older, they have begun to move beyond
the care of a pediatric provider. 2