Dental care for the mentally impaired

Special Needs Dental Patients (SNDP) are a greatly underserved portion of the

population here in Cambodia. Dr Magnus, a Faculty advisor who concentrates in the

treatment of SNDP here and in the USA reports that this is also a great problem there

and worldwide.

SNDP are often difficult or impossible to treat in the traditional dental setting due to lack

of cooperation or complicated medical conditions. For this reason, treatment is often

performed under General Anesthesia in the operating room of a hospital. Many less

complicated cases can be treated successfully in dental clinics with special skills and

often with the aid of Intravenous (IV) Sedation. Unfortunately, this opportunity is not

widely available to most patients.

Recently, a dental patient with Special Needs was seen in our clinic at UP Dental

Hospital 1 with the aid of IV Sedation under the expert care of Anesthesiologist Dr. In

Sovutheara, Dr Magnus,

The patient was carefully chosen for this procedure to ensure safety, and Dr Magnus

feels that many more SNDP can be successfully treated in our clinics when properly

selected. This will give the handicapped citizens of Cambodia greater access to care

and give UP dental students opportunities to learn these valuable skills while raising

everyone’s awareness regarding these challenges.

UP was one of several dental schools that signed a pledge in 2022 to serve SNDP. UP

has been doing this for several years in the hospital setting and will now be the first

school to honor this pledge to serve them here in our clinic!