Dental program to boost services for people with special needs

A new program at the School of Dental Medicine will provide much needed additional dental services to special needs consumers.

The Department of Mental Retardation is partnering with the dental school to provide $100,000 in funding for the Collaborative Dental Fellowship Program.

UConn’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency program already treats a significant number of adults with developmental disabilities.

In fiscal year 2006, the dental school provided health care services to more than 2,500 outpatient special needs patients, and 37 emergency and 79 operating room cases.

With the new fellowship program, the school will be able to provide services for approximately 72 additional operating room cases and 990 additional outpatient clinic visits per year.

These enhanced services will dramatically reduce the waiting time for dental care for special needs patients.

“The School of Dental Medicine is delighted to expand this opportunity of care to this most vulnerable population of patients, who require highly skilled and knowledgeable clinicians to meet their needs,” says Monty MacNeil, dean of the School of Dental Medicine.

“We hope that through this partnership, Connecticut will become a ‘best practice’ model for the rest of the nation in providing dental care for adult special needs patients.”

Dr. Steven Lepowsky, associate dean for clinical affairs and chair of the Division of Advanced General Dentistry at the dental school, says “The number of patients we treat has increased steadily during the past decade. We are responding to an ever-increasing number of patient referrals from health care agencies, mental health agencies, day and residential programs, and from the Department of Mental Retardation directly.”