NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Spring 2019

28 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE FACULTY IMPRESSIONS FACULTY Impressions environment and behavior to modify significant social behaviors. “During desensitization, visual support or task strips—a method of teaching people with little or no communication abilities—are used to gradually expose a patient to those aspects of the dental proce- dure that produces anxiety,” he said. A behavioral analyst assists. HONORING INDIVIDUAL NEEDS “Using applied behavioral analysis, we break every- thing into steps and progressively move that child into the dental chair,” Ocanto explained. “It can take several visits to get a child into the door, approach the chair, sit, open the mouth, let us see it, take the mirror, and allow us to do the brushing.” Children are asked which dental prophy paste flavor they prefer, as they may resist dental treatment if they don’t like the taste. Children are incrementally famil- iarized with gloves to acclimate them to how they feel in their mouths. Before she heard about the clinic, Felicia Jehaluzi of Plantation, Florida, took her five-year-old son, Faraaz, who has an ASD diagnosis, to a pediatrician to get his teeth checked. “We had a very hard time,” she said. Jehaluzi’s son now gets his dental care at NSU’s Mailman Segal Center. “When we first started, we had a very hard time getting him in the seat,” Jehaluzi said. “Now, after six months of monthly visits, we are to the point where he can sit in the seat. There are four tools he allows, and he doesn’t mind going. He even CDM pediatric dentist Oscar Padilla, D.D.S., left, teaches a patient about dental health with the help of Romer Ocanto at the dental clinic at NSU’s Mailman Segal Center for Human Development. continued from page 26