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 Dental and oral health care remain the number one unmet health care need for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Many clients cannot attend to their own home-based oral health care, due to cognitive, behavioral, sensory, and neuromotor impairments. The direct support professionals (DSPs) are the lynch-pin between healthy teeth and gums, and a window leading to decay, inflammation, and systemic disease. There is an abundance of literature demonstrating that even heart disease and stroke can have its origins from poor oral health habits.
The OGC MINI DENTAL SCHOOL will serve as the focus for an ongoing  commitment to teaching and supporting our DSPs in the best practices of providing supervision of oral health in our group homes. Orange Grove's dental assistant/educator, Jeanette Hames, will conduct the classes under the supervision of our dental staff, including board member/dentist, Dr. Ben Tyber. She will be using videos, models, role playing, and other teaching regimens to insure that the staff understands and appreciates the serious role they play in helping to provide ongoing collaborative health that starts in the mouth. Clients and parents will also be included in the teaching sessions.
We also expect that the OGC MINI DENTAL SCHOOL will become a national model for other community agencies and state developmental centers. We also hope to teach our staff the fundamentals of good oral health so that they may practice them in their own lives, as well as with their own families.
The Orange Grove Center's Mini Dental School is the first "mini dental school" in the United States to be chartered and approved by the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry ( www.aadmd.org). The Academy will provide ongoing oversight and guidance in formulating curriculum content, goals and teaching methods for the Orange Grove Mini Dental School. We are delighted to have this affiliation and look forward to increasing our outreach with the Academy. |
