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Program examines dental health of special needs children South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) will air a one-hour dialogue on the oral/dental health of special needs children at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, and again at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 20.   “Our Health: Special Smiles, Special Needs” is the fifth program in a series co-produced by SCETV and the Medical University.     The Our Health Series focuses on health status disparities affecting specific population groups in South Carolina.  The current program examines the disparities in oral/dental health affecting the state’s 360,000 special needs children.   Special needs patients live with a wide range of chronic physical, mental and emotional conditions that may limit their access to timely and effective oral/dental health care.   The program’s six-member panel includes Carlos Salinas, DDS, DMD, of MUSC’s College of Dental Medicine; State Representative Joe E. Brown from District 73 in Richland County; Connie Ginsberg, executive director of Family Connection of South Carolina Inc.; Dr. Ray Lala, state dental coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; Dr. Rocky Napier, a private practice pediatric dentist in Aiken; and Dr. Mary Tepper, a dentist at the S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs’ Pee Dee and Saleeby Centers in Florence and Hartsville.   Topics addressed in the dialogue include the need for better dental education and training, the value of early preventive dentistry in alleviating issues faced by special needs patients, the need for more and better information regarding the oral/dental health of special needs patients, and better awareness of facilities and services available to special needs patients.   Previous programs in the Our Health Series addressed health status disparities, HIV/AIDS, youth violence and the Metabolic Syndrome (obesity, diabetes, etc.). VHS copies of the programs are available by contacting the programs’ producer, Richard Jablonski, at 792-5548, or jablonsr@musc.edu.     Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.