Black male in a light blue polo shirt smiling
A recent article in the New York Times highlights an unfortunate fact–People with intellectual and developmental disabilities face a number of barriers that prevent them from accessing dental care. At the core of the problem is the shortage of properly trained dental care providers and as a result– a lack of dental care providers willing to provide that care.
Inclusive oral healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities is at the heart of our mission at the WITH Foundation. We have provided grants to a number of organizations that:
- Provide training about the oral care of people with I/DD;
- Create dental service delivery models that engage individuals with disabilities as co-trainers/co-teachers; and
- Educate both Dental and Medical providers in conference and/or clinical settings about the oral care needs of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Read more about these Grantees below:
American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD)
WITH Foundation has provided funding for AADMD’s conferences which enhance the general education of physicians, dentists and other healthcare professionals with respect to the care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
AADMD annual conferences provide a forum in which national leaders in multiple clinical disciplines, researchers, students, and policymakers can come together to exchange ideas, learn best practices, forge working relationships and create new directions for the future of healthcare.
UCSF Office of Continuing Medical Education
The University of California, San Francisco Office of Continuing Medical Education offers educational opportunities for physicians, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, dentists, and allied health care professionals to improve their practices through a comprehensive selection of continuing education activities. WITH Foundation has provided grants to the Office of CME at UCSF to underwrite the costs of their annual conference titled, “Developmental Disabilities: An Update for Health Professionals.” This two-day conference provides the latest information on health issues affecting those with developmental disabilities.
Special Care Dentistry Association
The SCDA assembled a group of experts in the care of special needs populations and postgraduate dental education to:
- Study existing postdoctoral programs that provide training in the care of patients with special needs;
- Envision an exportable construct that would serve as the framework for a new category of dental residency training program;
- Create comprehensive educational standards for such programs; and
- Using the standards developed, request an accreditation review process by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (the recognized federal formal recognition process) be developed for this new category of postdoctoral general dentistry residency.
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration seeking to improve access to dental care for adults with (I/DD) by:
- Implementing a clinic integrating medical, dental, and behavioral health providers within an existing primary care setting;
- Developing a curriculum for health care providers and trainees to increase comfort and confidence caring for individuals with I/DD and their dental needs; and
- Training health care providers to utilize desensitization strategies to increase access to dental care, improve the patient experience, and decrease the need for sedation services in order to receive dental care. The project partners with UTHealth School of Dentistry (UTSD) and the United HealthCare Community Plan of Texas (UHC).
University of Rochester – Eastman Institute for Oral Health, Rochester, NY
urmc.rochester.edu/dentistry.aspx
The aim of this project is to establish a sustainable and reproducible curriculum in training healthcare providers (residents, fellows and healthcare providers in practice) to:
- Understand the healthcare disparities
- Acquire the skill set needed to provide high-quality healthcare and appropriately deliver care and
- Establish a multidisciplinary healthcare network to ensure the continuity of care for people with IDD. Modules will be interactive and co-led by self-advocates with IDD. The project partners with Monroe Community College and Special Olympics International (SOI).
Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA
The Special Care Clinic and Hospital Dentistry Program at the University of the Pacific’s Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry is in midst of a three-year grant to increase the number of professionals trained to deliver high-quality oral health care to people with developmental disabilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. This funding helps the Special Care Clinic (SCC) provide rigorous education and experiential learning opportunities to over 570 dental students, residents and scholars, medical students and pharmacy externs who will handle over 13,870 visits over 3 years.
Community Dental Services Inc.
WITH provided funding for the collaboration of the University of New Mexico Dental Services (UNMDS) and Community Dental Services, Inc. (CDS) to develop telemedicine services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in New Mexico. The purpose of the collaboration was to provide necessary dental services to adults in the most appropriate setting by streamlining the process by which referrals to the UNMDS Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) are made.
A telemedicine program was developed that allowed for adults with I/DD identified as needing care that is beyond the capacity of their dental home to be screened. Local dentists were engaged in real-time video conference communication with specialists at UNMDS to determine the best treatment options for each patient.
JVS – Tri-County Dental Program
The collaborative project between JVS (through its Tri-County Dental Program), the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry (UDM) and Community Living Services, Inc. (CLS) created a dental home at UDM for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and enhanced the education of dental students. It gave dental students general and clinical experience with people with disabilities, and empowered patients with disabilities to guide student dentists as “co-teachers.” With increased exposure to this population, dental students’ confidence to treat them will grow. Ultimately, they encouraged to care for patients with I/DD in their future dental practices.
Special Olympics, Inc. Rochester, NY
Replicating the successful Team Trainer pilot in NY, this program brings the Team Trainer to 5 new US states each year for 3 years (15 states total over the grant period) and creates the toolkits and resources necessary for sustainable, large-scale global replication. Team Trainer pairs a healthcare practitioner with a Special Olympics team for an athletic season to increase participation in Healthy Athletes which offers health examinations in 7 disciplines including Healthy Smiles. The Healthy Athletes program helps athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) set and achieve wellness goals. The program also gives healthcare providers the opportunity to learn about and treat individuals with I/DD.
The mission of WITH Foundation is to promote comprehensive healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities.