Individuals with developmental, intellectual, or physical disabilities often have costly specialized healthcare needs. This reality can extend to their dental care. Unfortunately, many dental insurance plans don’t adequately cover these costs.
Nor are all providers equipped or willing to provide special needs dentistry. Patients and their families must then seek out a dentist for special needs and hope those dentists’ prices fit their budget.
However, Penn Dental Medicine (PDM) offers high-quality care from student special needs dentists at a low cost. Because we have an educational mission, we deliver state-of-the-art, evidence-based care for a fraction of what most private dental practices charge.
In our Personalized Care Suite at the Care Center for Persons with Disabilities, PDM student dentists, working under the close supervision of faculty, treat patients 14 years and older. Care is comprehensive and compassionate. It accommodates individuals’ specific needs in effective ways.
Read on for a fuller picture of the barriers to care this underserved population frequently faces. Discover also how PDM makes care from special needs dentists for adults more accessible.
What Makes Finding Special Needs Dentists Challenging?
Patients in households experiencing disabilities go to a dentist less often than other patients do. The CareQuest Institute for Oral Health’s 2022 State of Oral Health Equity in America survey found nearly a third of respondents (32.6%) hadn’t visited a dentist in two or more years.
What are the reasons for such infrequent dental visits?
- High Cost
Paying for a special needs dentist is the primary obstacle patients with special needs face in obtaining oral healthcare.
These patients frequently receive health coverage through Medicaid. However, dentists may be less inclined to accept their dental insurance because Medicaid pays dentists less than private insurers do.
This difference in reimbursement isn’t always much. Sometimes, it’s less than 10%. But the perception among dental professionals of a greater gap persists.
Patients who do have private insurance may find their policies don’t cover dental visits. Policies also may not cover modified treatments their special needs make necessary.
- Dental Anxiety
CareQuest found that when patients with disabilities visit a dentist, they’re twice as likely than others to experience high dental anxiety. Anticipating an unpleasant or painful experience or remembering a past one, some patients and caregivers won’t schedule dental appointments at all.
- Inaccessible Dental Offices
Patients with mobility impairments, for example, can’t always navigate dental offices that lack elevators or ample space. For another example, the limited availability of specialized equipment and tools for patients with sensory or cognitive disabilities can hinder their ability to receive proper care.
- Lack of Awareness and Understanding
Some dental professionals haven’t been trained in how to be dentists for special needs. And, the CareQuest survey found more than half of patients with disabilities (52.8%) had been denied healthcare, including oral healthcare, due to discrimination.
Removing Financial and Other Barriers To Special Needs Dentistry
At PDM’s Personalized Care Suite, we’re bringing down financial and other barriers between patients with special needs and the care they deserve.
We are an educational clinic of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. We can offer treatment at far lower fees than most private clinics because our student special needs dentists are gaining valuable clinical experience. Your treatment is your contribution to their education, and we honor that contribution with lower rates.
PDM accepts direct payments from most dental insurance plans. We accept all Medicaid plans for which residents of Southeastern Pennsylvania are eligible, such as Pennsylvania Medicaid. Several major private insurance plans also consider PDM in-network.
We can also arrange fixed-rate installment programs—including a six-month no interest if paid in full plan—for qualifying patients through a trusted third-party healthcare financing provider.
Beyond the financial considerations, our dental team is dedicated to developing strategies that meet the unique dental needs of individuals with physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities.
The special needs dentists-in-training at PDM understand the unique challenges, fears, and communication difficulties individuals with disabilities may face. They take the time to build trust and rapport with patients and caregivers, ensuring dental visits are as comfortable and positive as possible.
And it all takes place in our Personalized Care Suite—an accessible, welcoming, and supportive environment for dental care. It includes:
- Wide, wheelchair-accessible corridors.
- “Quiet rooms” for patients with sensory sensitivities.
- Hover chairs and a wheelchair room with a lift for nonambulatory patients.
- Radiology options for patients who aren’t able to tolerate traditional X-ray imaging.
- Nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) as a sedation option that relaxes patients while leaving them conscious for dental treatment.
By directly addressing obstacles between patients with disabilities and quality oral healthcare—including the financial obstacle—PDM’s Personalized Care Suite is leading the way in special needs dentistry in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.
If you need a low-cost, high-quality special needs dentist for adults, schedule an appointment online now, or call PDM at 215-898-8965.
