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We felt it was necessary to share the letter below from Dr. Matt Holder, Executive Director of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, to Wanda Willis, Executive Director of the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, in regards to the dental clinic at Orange Grove Center.
TO: Wanda Willis
Executive Director
TN Council on DD
From: Matt Holder < mattholder@aadmd.org >
To: Willis, Wanda < Wanda.Willis@tn.gov >
Sent: 1/9/2011 4:58:41 PM
Subject: Project Open Wide
Dear Ms. Willis:
It has come to my attention that the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities has requested some outside feedback regarding the significance of Project Open Wide at the Orange Grove Center. As the Global Medical Advisor for Special Olympics International and the Executive Director of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, I am keenly aware of the ubiquitous lack of adequate and appropriate healthcare services for people with ID/DD across the United States. In nearly every state and country that I have visited, lack of dental services is frequently mentioned as the number one healthcare problem facing this patient population.
For years, our dental colleagues have warned us that inadequate dental care has a greater impact on the body than most non-dentists recognize. Periodontists have warned that periodontal disease (which effects around 90% of people with Down syndrome) is significantly correlated with an increase in the rate of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, peptic ulcers, malnutrition and even death. The mechanism of disease that causes untreated dental pain, which has been consistently shown to be present in at least 13% of the ID/DD patient population, can lead to unhealthy weight and behavior changes. These behavior changes often lead to inappropriate psychiatric medication treatment. Occasionally, the outcomes are even worse. In 2009, in Michigan, a woman with developmental disabilities died as a direct result of her not being able to access the dental care that she needed.
Despite the general lack of access to quality dental care throughout the country for this patient population, there are a few bright spots where these issues are being addressed. Just a handful of clinics throughout the country are able to provide the level of care that Project Open Wide is able to provide. The project at Orange Grove can boast what few programs can, having a fully-trained developmental dentist (Dr. Kristin Compton) on staff. Dr. Compton is one of less than a dozen dentists in the nation who have completed a fellowship in Developmental Dentistry. For Project Open Wide to have secured the services of such a competent professional is indeed a coup for the State of Tennessee and its residents with ID/DD.
With Dr. Rader and Dr. Compton working together on Project Open Wide, Orange Grove Center and the State of Tennessee have all the tools necessary to be national and, indeed, world leaders in the dental care of people with ID/DD.
Sincerely,
Matt Holder, MD, MBA
Executive Director, AADMD
Global Medical Advisor, Special Olympics, Inc.
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