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Special needs patients have access to dentists by Dick Peterson Public Relations Parents of children with special health care needs have a special problem: It’s hard, sometimes impossible, to find a dentist to treat their child. Or so it seems. Yet, among the more than 1,600 dentists in South Carolina, many do have the skills and experience to treat children with a wide range of special health care needs, including Down syndrome, autism, cystic fibrosis, and a host of others. The problem is not that dentists aren’t available for special-needs children in South Carolina; the problem is that desperate parents can’t find them. “We’re doing all we can to bring down the access barriers to dental health in South Carolina,” said Professor of Pediatric Dentistry Carlos Salinas, DMD. “Our South Carolina Dental Directory for Individuals with Special Health Care Needs is a huge step in that direction.” The online directory, which is supported by a Duke Endowment grant, establishes a statewide network identifying dentists who will care for patients with special needs. By linking a questionnaire with state dental license renewal applications, Salinas was able to compile the information he needed into an online directory of dentists who will care for patients with special needs. Graphic designers and programmers in the library developed a Web interface and search capability for Salinas’ database to make it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. That was just the beginning. Since the start-up of the special-needs directory, word has gotten out, and both dentists and patient families have responded to expand the directory into a friendly and effective tool to match patient and provider by specialty, skill, dental care need and disability, and even locating the dentist by ZIP code. “I’m astonished at the amount of work Dr. Salinas has put into this Web site,” said Mary Snyder, the mother of a daughter born with hydrocephalus associated with chairi malformation. Recalling the difficulty she had finding appropriate dental care for her daughter, Faith, who is now 12 years old, she explained how important the Web site is for parents of children with special needs. “Autism is different from Down syndrome which is different from spina bifida,” she said. “You have no idea how wonderful it is to find a dentist who understands and is experienced in treating children with your child’s special need.” Some children are frightened of the dentist and clench their teeth and others might bite the dentist, she said.  Here’s how the online directory works: First find the Web site at http://www.handsonhealth_sc.org/A/resources/dentist.php or go to http://www.handsonhealth-sc.org and click on “resources,” then “dentists,” and then “South Carolina Dental Directory for Individuals with Special Health Care Needs.” As a part of the MUSC library’s Hands on Health Web site, the directory is becoming more available statewide as public libraries and state agencies link to Hands on Health and citizens learn about the Web site. “We advertise and demonstrate the Hands On Health Web site around the state and at health professions meetings,” said Hands on Health project manager Nancy McKeehan. She said that people accessing the Hands on Health site can link easily to Salinas’ directory. Designed to be used by professional and layman alike, the directory facilitates access and referral using a quick-search and an advanced-search feature. Using the quick-search, the inquirer can look for a dentist based on a patient’s special need, or find a dentist by name or location. The advanced-search feature allows the inquirer to combine multiple search selections including one or more special needs, special arrangements, the type of practice, age of the patient, language spoken in the dentist’s office, the type of payment accepted, and location by city or ZIP code within a 10-, 25-, 50-, or 100-mile radius. “For years I’ve listened to parents express their frustrations and sometimes inability to locate dental care for their children,” said Amarylis Cranwell, program coordinator of The Caring Connection, a part of Genetics and Developmental Pediatrics. “Now help is available.” She said that because The Caring Connection supports families whose children need special care and provides information and referral services for them, their frustrations become hers. Not surprisingly, she welcomes the online directory. “It’s a much-needed link to appropriate dental care for the special patient by dentists who want to serve this population.” She urges parents and professionals to use it. Dentists licensed in South Carolina and who wish to be listed in the directory can access a registration form, complete it online and be included once the information is confirmed. Changes on individual listings can be completed throughout the year on the form as well, and annual updates and new registrations are requested when licenses are renewed. First published in 2001 as a print edition, the directory was an outcome of the MUSC Dental Program for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Special Patients. That program has been funded by the Department of Health and Human Services—Healthy South Carolina Initiative and the South Carolina Developmental Disabilities Council. Duke Endowment funds the Web version.     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.