Redefining dental care to serve patients with special health care needs: A review

Some of the most wonderful people are those who, cannot fit into a mould and so are the patients with special needs. The patients require medical, physical, psychological, or social situations that make it necessary for us to modify our normal dental routines in order to provide dental treatment for such individuals. These individuals include, but are not just limited to the people with developmental disabilities, complex medical problems, and significant physical limitations1,2 alone. The population of these patients are reported to have higher rates of poor oral hygiene and thus having a greater incidence of gingivitis and periodontitis, and also dental caries, than for the others, falling in the mould of general population. This review article aims at describing various measures that can be taken for providing care to such individuals.