See How We Do Special Needs Dentistry
Dr. Jordan: I think our office is different from other offices in the area of special needs patients, because Dad and I have grown up in that community. My brother, Reece, has autism, and he was diagnosed when he was 3, so that kind of changed our lives and made us more aware of what’s happening, and what we need to do as humans – not just dental providers – to make these types of patients feel comfortable. There are sensory issues, so loud noises is going to be a problem. Textures are going to be an issue. Dad and I have taken the time, we’ve opened up on Saturdays to treat these kind of patients when not everything else is going on crazy in the office. Then I, during my residency, worked a lot with special needs patients in an OR setting, where we meet the patient outside in the office, kind of get to know each other. I always directly talk to the patient, even if they don’t talk back to me. Then we schedule time in the hospital and we put them to sleep with the help of an anesthesia team and we do all of their dentistry in one setting. I think our office knows not just how to converse with special needs patients, but how what we do is going to affect their parents when we take them home. So we’re very aware of, you know, okay, if we do this then we need to talk about this with their parents. We try to make it as easy and seamless on them as possible.