Teaching Special Care Dentistry in a Nigerian Dental School

Objective: Special Care Dentistry (SCD) is that branch of Dentistry concerned with the care of individuals with a chronic physical, developmental, behavioural or emotional condition that substantially limits one or more major life activity, and who need dental services beyond what is generally required. The teaching of SCD in both undergraduate and graduate curriculum has been described globally as deficient. From previous studies, it has been shown that people with special health care needs have poorer oral health than their healthier peers. This is due to problems of inadequate access to both preventive and curative care and attitude of oral health professionals. This professional attitude has been reported to be due to inadequate exposure and preparation of dental students for the care of people with special needs in their future practices. There is a continuing global call for improved access to care for this vulnerable group and improved teaching of the course. Methods: In the University of Lagos Dental School, the teaching of SCD has been improved to include, in addition to existing six hours of classroom instructions in care of patients with special needs in the final year, (i) clinical demonstrations of management of different disabilities (ii) management of at least two cases with special needs as part of the student's requirements for the final BDS examination in Child Dental Health (iii) community outreach which involves visits to various institutions for people with special needs. Result: There is a noticeable increase in interest and knowledge of various disabilities and their presentations, improved confidence in management and care. Conclusion: In consideration of the current global trend in relation to Special Care Dentistry, this method of teaching could serve as model for other dental schools.