Treating Patients with Special Needs

Our Mission

The Trinity Health Oakland General Dental Residency Program sees patients with special needs from all over the Metropolitan Detroit area. These patients come with a variety of needs, and our goal is to help meet those needs, as best as we can. As part of the Core Values of Trinity Health, we are dedicated to reaching out and helping the most vulnerable among us.

Didactic Training

Through years of experience in working with patients of differing abilities, we have a tremendous amount of case-based learning and patient profiles that show the challenge of delivering dental treatment to a patient. This also provides a longitudinal perspective as well. This patient population is aging, and thanks to access to medical treatment, many are living a normal lifespan. This is a challenge for dentistry, as there are many limitations and challenges to helping them keep good oral health.

Patient care demonstration

Many residents have not worked with patients with special needs before. That is fine, as we start from the beginning, with patients that are cooperative and need maintenance care. Through case-based learning, and demonstrations by the directors and assistants, the residents begin to become comfortable around patients of differing abilities.

Patients are seen in the clinic

Working with a concept of a “continuum of care”, patients are assessed as to where quality treatment can be delivered. Sometimes it is the Henderson Dental Center, and sometimes it is the operating room under general anesthesia. Quite often, it is a combination of both depending upon the needs of the patient and their level of cooperation.

Patients are seen in the operating room

For those patients with severe dental disease, and are not cooperative for treatment to be delivered in the Henderson Dental Center, treatment is delivered in the hospital operating room under general anesthesia. Each resident has the opportunity to lead the treatment and handle the responsibility of planning the case and completing the chart from Pre-op visit to discharge. The resident will be providing treatment, assisted by one of the Program Directors. The hospital rotations of anesthesia and internal medicine help provide a background for the skills necessary to make this an exceptional experience.