Free Dental Treatment for Children with Special Needs
Children with special needs in Trinidad and Tobago can now be treated for free at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Special Needs Dental Clinic. The treatment centre which is based at The School of Dentistry in the Faculty of Medical Sciences of The UWI St. Augustine Campus recently received a generous donation of $90,000 from Community Chest Limited (CCL), a non-governmental organisation.
The Board of the CCL recognised that there was an unmet need for dental care for children with special needs, it was then they discovered that there was an existing specialised dental clinic that was able to provide treatment. This is important since poor oral health is linked to other general health issues and persons with special needs often have both oral and systemic diseases. Dental treatment is associated with high costs and although The UWI Dental School offers highly subsidized fees, this service may still not be affordable to those who access government grants.
Dr. Ramaa Balkaran, Lecturer in Special Needs Dentistry at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, is enthusiastic about this initiative from the CCL that enables children with special needs to access specialised dental care. “This purposeful collaboration,” she said, “would improve the quality of life of this population through dental care.” Special needs dentistry modifies treatment by promoting preventative dentistry and changes in routine dental care adapted to the specific, patient’s needs. Dr. Balkaran wishes that “this partnership would be sustainable and can also be extended to the adult population through future partnerships with the CCL and other NGOs.”
Director of the School of Dentistry in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, The UWI St. Augustine, Dr. William Smith, hopes that The UWI Special Needs Dental Clinic can create additional partnerships with various NGOs to promote oral health in the special needs population, providing treatment through private/public UWI partnership. “Such collaborative initiatives would increase access to a conscious sedation service at UWI/NCRHA clinic, provide general anaesthesia in a timely manner, and have restorative and urgent treatment completed at no, or reduced, costs through private/corporate UWI partnership. Another goal is the provision of a dental mobile unit accessible to patients with special needs that have mobility issues or who live in rural communities,” said Dr. Smith.
Parents of children (i.e. persons under the age of 18 years old) with special needs, can book the appointments at the dental clinic. The clinical days are currently on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as all day on Fridays. For further information, interested persons are asked to contact The UWI Dental School, Special Needs Dental Clinic, T: 645-3232 ext. 4038; 645-7816; 645-4352.
