Lasting Impressions | Winter 2014

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE x 17 BY NANCY MCVICAR T he first patient of the day at The Henry Schein Special Needs Clinical Suite has Down syndrome; the second has cerebral palsy. Then, there are two mentally challenged residents from the group home, followed by a 15-year-old girl with autism and a frail, elderly woman who arrives on a stretcher from a nursing home. Their needs vary from a simple cleaning and checkup to fillings, extractions, or gum treatments. But, many of these patients are already on several medications, suffer from anxiety, or are nonverbal and can’t easily communicate to explain what hurts, or where it hurts.