Special care dentistry for general dental practice

The creation of a specializedmedical-dental clinic for adults with developmental disabilities in Montreal, Canada

Purpose

There is inadequate health care for patients with developmental disabilities (DD), due to a number of systemic issues. This case study describes the establishment of a medical-dental clinic in Montréal, Québec for adults with DD. The purpose of this paper is to describe the model of interdisciplinary care based on best practices, as an example to encourage a growing community of trained health professionals to serve this population.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews with all the clinic staff and leadership were conducted on-site at the clinic, followed by document review and discussions with an embedded researcher in the organization.

Findings

The clinic was established through a series of events that led to public and government interest to act, the timely emergence of major donors, and bringing together several dedicated individuals and organizations. The core team engaged in consultation with clinics, followed by extensive billing analyses and iterative process mapping as a learning organization. Prior to patient visits, the clinic conducted detailed intake processes to adequately plan for each patient interaction. Desensitization visits were undertaken to improve patient tolerance for examination and treatment. The continual collection of data fed into an evaluation framework to facilitate continuous improvement and articulate a model for replication.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors knowledge, there is not a clinic of this nature serving this population in Canada. This work can serve to inform the efforts of other care providers looking to create a medical – dental home for this population.