Volume 9 • 2022 • Issue 1

O ne of CDA’s priorities is to advocate for accessible oral health care for all Canadians—including patient groups who have SHCN—and CDA’s National CoordinatingWorking Group on Access to Care have produced practical tools and resources to address dentists’ top training and knowledge needs when providing oral health care to patients with SHCN. The Transition Process When a young person reaches age 18, they usually transfer from a pediatric dentist to a general dentist who will continue to provide them with oral health care as adults in a new dental home. “Transitioning from a pediatric to an adult oral care provider is, across the globe, one of the biggest challenges for persons with special needs,” explains Dr. Clive Friedman, certified specialist in pediatric dentistry Special Health Care Needs Resources: NewTransitionTool Available In December 2021, a new tool was added to CDA’s series of resources on providing oral health care to patients with special health care needs (SHCN). A new transition tool helps guide patients, families, caregivers and oral health care providers through the process of transition when an adolescent with SHCN moves from pediatric to adult oral health care, or when an adult with SHCN moves from one dental practice to another. The goal is to provide a seamless, patient-centred integration that encourages the move to individual autonomy within the new oral health care facility. of London, Ontario. “So, the thought process was that we need to emulate what has been done in medicine and create a tool specific to oral health care to help those individuals for this transition process.” Dr. Friedman, along with Dr. Andy Shih, general practitioner of Komoka, Ontario, and Carroll Sturgeon, mother of Melanie who has significant developmental challenges, were instrumental in developing the new transition tool. The tool was first adapted from an evidence- based adolescent-to-adult transition process from the United States’ medical setting. They piloted the tool when helping Melanie transition from one dental practice to a new one. “Thanks to this collaborative transition experience, we were able to re-evaluate how the tool worked and we adjusted it accordingly,” says Dr. Friedman. Feedback from the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health (CSDH) 16 | 2022 | Issue 1